Yoki Shinai Misshon
by Chip903
Summary: Deidara, along with Sasori, is sent on a mission to capture an individual who possesses incredible power as well as phenomenal potential. However, what they end up discovering is unlike anything they will or ever have encountered in their lives. And what transpires is one of the most epic adventures the two of them will ever experience.
1. Prologue

_**~Yoki Shinai Misshon~**_

_**~Chapter 1: Prologue~**_

Two of the Akatsuki, Deidara and Sasori, were flying overhead a forest near the village of Konoha. Deidara was looking around the area with his eye scope while Sasori let out an exasperated sigh.

"Have you found anything yet brat?" the puppet master asked his partner.

"Not a thing," Deidara answered as the wind blew his long blonde hair. "But the readings I got before said that target was somewhere nearby, un."

Sasori closed his brown eyes. "I see. Well, we'd better hurry up and find the thing and not keep Lord Pain and the others waiting forever. We've been looking for the past seven days, you know."

Deidara narrowed his eyes slightly. "Yeah, I know, un."

* * *

_**~Flashback – 1 Week Ago~**_

_"Hidan, what does Lord Pain want with us, un?" Deidara asked his fellow Akatsuki member as he and Sasori followed him and Kakuzu into the main corridor of the Akatsuki base._

_"How the fuck should I know?" cursed the Jashinist. "He told me and Kakuzu to come get you fuckers and bring you to him! Shit, I can't believe that I've been reduced to a fucking errand boy…"_

_"If you ask me I'd say you make a good one Hidan," Kakuzu joked as he walked alongside his partner._

_Hidan growled at Kakuzu. "Eat a dick and shut the hell up Kakuzu! I'm not in the mood for any of your damn wisecracks!"_

_"Heh, just being honest," Kakuzu said._

_As Hidan and Kakuzu began to go back and forth with each other, Deidara turned to Sasori and asked, "So, what do you think is up this time, un?"_

_Sasori shrugged his shoulders. "No idea. But we'll know when we meet up with Lord Pain."_

_The four of them walked a bit longer before they reached the middle of the room and they didn't see Pain anywhere. "Where the hell is he?" asked Hidan as he looked around._

_"Did you forget already?" Kakuzu asked in an irritated tone. "He told us to meet him and Konan outside."_

_Hidan snapped his head toward his partner. "I knew that! I was just seeing if you remembered fucktard!"_

_Kakuzu grunted in anger before turning on his heel and heading for the entrance of the base, Hidan behind him with a smug look on his face._

_Sasori sighed. "Those two will never change."_

_Deidara simply nodded his head in agreement._

_"It took you long enough," said Konan as she turned and saw her companions coming towards her and Pain outside._

_"Sorry to keep you both waiting," said Sasori as they reached them. "So, what is it you needed me and the brat for?"_

_Pain turned to look at them. "I've sensed a presence. One unlike anything I've ever sensed before."_

_"What do you mean by that, un?" asked Deidara._

_"An individual near Konoha," Konan began. "Its chakra level is exceptionally high."_

_"Is it a Jinchūrik?" asked Sasori as he crossed his arms._

_"No," Pain answered. "It doesn't have any kind tailed beast within it. This power is being generated by it and it alone."_

_"Hmm, being that powerful and not being a Jinchuriki…" Deidara thought out loud. "Sounds interesting, un."_

_"Indeed, which bring us to you two," said Konan as she looked at Deidara and Sasori. "You two are being assigned to track down this individual and bring it here."_

_Sasori acknowledged the order and turned to Deidara. "Well, this is quite unexpected. It looks like we have a mission on our hands."_

_"It would appear so, un," said Deidara as he met his partners look. "What do you say we get started right now?"_

_Sasori nodded. "Wouldn't have it any other way."_

_Deidara opened his hand and the mouth on it opened and produced a small amount of clay. He closed his hand around the clay and seconds later after opening it, revealed a small clay bird. Deidara placed the bird on the ground, formed a sign with his hands, and the bird grew into a much larger form of itself._

_"What a beautiful piece of work," Deidara said with a smirk as he leapt onto the bird and turned to Sasori. "What do you think, un?"_

_Sasori rolled his eyes and leapt onto the bird as well. "Let's just get going. You know how much I hate to wait."_

_"Don't I ever, un," said Deidara with a slight chuckle._

_Pain walked up beside them. "Remember, the target is somewhere near Konoha. Your best bet would be to start looking in the forest near the village."_

_"Heh, no worries," said Deidara as the bird leapt up slightly in the air. "We'll be back before you know it, un."_

_Pain nodded his head. "And one more thing. If the target decides to not come willingly…you both know what to do."_

_"We got it Lord Pain," said Sasori as he sat cross-legged on the bird. "Well then brat, are we going or not?"_

_"Always the impatient one, aren't you Master?" asked Deidara as the bird went higher up into the air and soared off into the sky._

_"And you two shitheads hurry up, will you?" Hidan shouted from the ground. "We can't wait forever for you two fuckers!"_

_**~End Flashback~**_

* * *

"I'm telling you, that Hidan is sometimes more impatient than me," Sasori sighed.

Deidara chuckled a bit. "I doubt anyone can be as impatient as you Sasori my man, un."

Sasori ignored his partner's comment and simply looked out at the night sky. He found wonder in the stars and found some kind of satisfaction that they would remain the way there are for a long time.

"You know Master, I can't help but appreciate this landscape," Deidara said as he looked down at the forest below them. "Such beauty and magnificence…It truly is worthy of being destroyed one day, un…"

Sasori hmphed and continued to look at the stars. "What good is this so called beauty if it's gone in an instant?"

Deidara was about to retort when his eye scope began to react. He adverted his gaze back to the forest and searched around once more.

"I take it you've finally got another reading?" Sasori asked.

"Yeah," Deidara answered. "It's close. Real close."

Sasori's eyes narrowed in determination. "Well, let's not waste any more time. Let's get to it."

Deidara nodded his head as the bird lowered itself down into the forest. Little did he know, this mission was going to be unlike any other because he was going to encounter something he never had before.

_**~End Of Chapter 1~**_

* * *

_**~Author's Note~**_

_**A very special thanks goes out to my best buddy Sasori Burger for requesting me to do this which is my first Naruto story!**_

_**And so, Deidara and Sasori have located their target! Who or what is the target they are after? What plans do the Akatsuki have in store concerning that person? And what is it that Deidara will encounter?**_

_**Until next time my fellow readers and authors, later and happy reading!**_


	2. Target Located

_**~Yoki Shinai Misshon~**_

_**~Chapter 2: Target Located~**_

Deidara and Sasori landed in the forest and were swiftly moving through it, looking for their target. They had been searching for a while but it seemed whenever they closed in on the target, it would suddenly disappear and reappear somewhere else in the forest and Deidara, needless to say, was getting really irritated.

"This whole little game of cat and mouse is getting really annoying…" Deidara muttered as he continued to look around for any sign of the target. "When will the thing just come out of hiding already, un?"

Sasori kept his eyes focused in front of him as he leapt from branch to branch. "Perhaps it already knows we are coming and is trying to evade us."

Deidara smirked darkly a bit. "Heh, leading us on a wild goose chase through the forest huh? Well, I'll be sure to make it regret that when I find it, un."

"Relax Deidara," Sasori said calmly. "We'll find it when we find it. Until then, keep your cool and keep looking."

Deidara grunted, frustrated at how Sasori was remaining so calm after how long they had been looking. "Whatever you say Master, un."

* * *

The two of them continued to search a bit longer but still found no trace of whatever it was they were searching for. Deciding to take a break, the two of them found a small opening that had a lake and waterfall in it. Deidara sighed huffily as he sat down on a rock by the lake and Sasori had a seat on the ground a few feet from the rock.

Deidara narrowed his eyes as he looked at his partner. "How you can be so cool and calm after all the time we wasted looking is beyond me, un."

Sasori smiled briefly. "It's called being levelheaded and not being a constant hothead. You should try it sometime."

The terrorist bomber growled slightly before leaning back on the rock, holding one of his hands up, and forming a small clay sculpture in his hand. "Why do you think Lord Pain even wants this person, or whatever the hell we're after, in the first place, un?"

Sasori shrugged. "I don't know. Perhaps to extract its power, to make it a member of the Akatsuki. We won't know until we find it."

Deidara grunt a bit before looking up into the sky. "If my scope was on point, then I'd say that we may have our hands full with whatever we find." He smirked a little bit. "The power reading I got was off the charts. But it's still nothing we can't handle, un."

Sasori looked over at Deidara, his eyes narrowing. "Never underestimate your opponent, especially when you have no idea what that opponent is capable of."

Deidara waved his partner off slightly. "Yeah yeah, whatever, un."

The puppet master shook his head a bit at Deidara before his eyes shifted forward. "What the…?"

"Hmm?" Deidara asked as he looked over at him. "What's up, un?"

For an answer, Sasori stood up off the ground, grabbed Deidara, and leapt across the lake to the other side of it. Then he ran into the forest with Deidara in tow and knelt down behind a tree.

Deidara snatched his arm out of Sasori's grip, slightly glaring at him. "What the hell was that for, un?"

Sasori placed a finger to his lips, shushing Deidara, before pointing forward. "Someone's coming."

Following his partner's finger, Deidara looked back to the opening and he and Sasori saw a figure emerge from the trees on the other side and walk towards the lake. "Heh, looks like we've got company," Deidara commented.

Sasori nodded. "It would appear so." At that moment, Deidara's scope began to react and Sasori looked at him in annoyance. "That point of us being behind this tree is for us not to be spotted, you know that right? Shut that thing off."

Deidara rolled his eyes slightly and was just about to do what Sasori said until he looked at the scope and his eyes went wide in shock. The readings on the scope were going through the roof, just like it was when they were going through the forest minutes earlier.

"The hell?" the bomber asked out loud as he checked the scope. As he looked back at the figure and saw the readings on scope still rising, he put two and two together and realization crossed his face. "I'd say we found our target Sasori, my man."

The puppet master raised an eyebrow before he himself heard the scope on Deidara's eye still rising and he smiled. "See? That wasn't so bad was it? Instead of us having to find the target, it came to us."

A smirk appeared on Deidara's face. "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go get this guy and get the job done."

Sasori shook his head, sighing a bit. "Always so hasty. Didn't I tell you to keep a level head and think things out instead of acting irrationally?" Sasori looked back over and saw Deidara was no longer beside him. His eyes widened before he looked back to the opening and saw Deidara approaching the figure. "Damn it. What am I going to do with that brat?"

* * *

"Heh, this is gonna be too easy," said Deidara as he neared the figure, placing his hand into the pouch on his side in the process. Once he reached the figure he had to hold in a laugh from how small it was. It was about half his size, give or take a few feet, and it had a hood on its head, concealing its face.

The figure looked over at Deidara and jumped back a few feet away from him. "W-Who are you?"

Deidara smirked. "It should be obvious."

The figure looked Deidara over and recognized his cloak. "You…You're a member of the Akatsuki, aren't you?"

"Bingo," said Deidara as he began to advance towards the figure.

The figure looked at Deidara a bit longer before speaking again. "So, you're one of the two that I sensed chasing me through the forest. I thought I had given you both the slip."

'Hmm, so Master and I were being tracked and sensed as well,' the bomber thought to himself. "You were quite the hard one to track down, un," said Deidara as he ran a hand through his long hair. "It was starting to piss me off, quite frankly."

"What do you want from me?" the figure asked.

"Simple," Deidara began as he looked back it the individual in front of him. "You're coming back to the Akatsuki base, un. At the order of our leader. Now are you going to cooperate and come with me, or am I going to have to take you by force, un?"

The figure scoffed. "Order? No one orders me to do anything!" It reached behind itself and pulled an object out, causing it to extend and form into a scythe. "And I'm not going anywhere with a criminal like you!"

Deidara's smirk grew as he saw the figure holding the weapon. "Heh, I take it that you want to do this the hard way, un. Alright then! Let's do this!"

The figure yet out a primal yell as it rushed at Deidara and swung the scythe at his midsection. The bomber back-flipped out of the way and he placed a few clay spiders down on the ground in front of the figure. The figure looked down and sensed explosive chakra coming from the spiders and its eyes widened as they exploded seconds later.

Deidara landed on his feet and grinned as he saw the explosion ahead of him. "Didn't even see that one coming, un." He stood back up-straight and gazed at the fiery scene in front of him. "Such beauty…There's nothing like it, un…"

The bomber then saw the figure emerge from the fire and land on its knees a few feet in front of him, the cloak it was wearing set ablaze. "Hmph, survived that one did you? Well if you hadn't then I would've been disappointed that you didn't last as long as I anticipated."

The figure glared at Deidara with stone cold emerald green eyes as it stood up, grabbed its cloak and threw it backwards into the flames, incinerating it. "No need for me to hide anymore. This just got real."

Deidara's eyes went wide at what he was seeing in front of him. The figure was a female who looked like she was somewhere around the age of seventeen. She had green eyes which were narrowed in anger at him, fair skin, long flowing brown hair that reached the middle of her back, and a very well-proportioned body. Perhaps her most striking physical trait that caught Deidara's attention were the cat ears on top of her head and the long tail that was coming from behind her.

_'Now that's something you don't see everyday, un…a Neko…'_ said Deidara as he placed his hand back in his pouch and stood in a fighting stance. "Tell me, what's your name?"

The girl spun her scythe around in front of her before grasping it tightly in her hands, the blade right beside her face, the light from the stars and the fire behind her reflecting off of it. "Not that it's any business of a criminal…but if you must know, it's Emi. Emi Takahashi."

"Emi…" the bomber repeated as he chuckled. "You just may be a worthy challenge. But just so you know, one way or another, you're coming back with me whether you like it or not, un!"

Emi scoffed and growled slightly. "We'll just see about that!"

Emi held her scythe up as she charged at Deidara and he stood his ground, waiting for her to get closer. "This is gonna be easy!" he remarked as he took his hand out of his pouch, having gather a large amount of clay from it and ready for battle.

* * *

Meanwhile Sasori, who was watching the whole thing from his spot in the woods, crossed his arms over his chest and smiled softly. "Something tells me this isn't going to be a walk in the park for you brat. If that scope of yours was right, then this is going to be one crazy fight. Heh, I may have to jump in this as well."

_**~End Of Chapter 2~**_

* * *

_**~Author's Note~**_

_**After hours of searching, Deidara and Sasori have located their target – a scythe wielding Neko named Emi Takahashi! Deidara believes she'll be an easy fight, but Sasori thinks different after remembering the readings of Deidara's scope! Is Emi truly as powerful as the scope said? If so, what powers and abilities does she possess? Find out next time as Emi takes on Deidara and possibly even Sasori too!**_

_**Until next time my fellow readers and authors, later and happy reading!**_

_**P.S. – Emi Takahashi belongs to Sasori Burger.**_


	3. Deidara VS Emi

_**~Yoki Shinai Misshon~**_

_**~Chapter 3: Deidara VS. Emi~**_

Emi, letting out a primal yell, closed the distance with her and Deidara and swung her scythe at him, aiming directly for his neck. Smirking, Deidara ducked and spun to the side of the neko, avoiding her attack. Emi stumbled forward a bit and the next thing she knew, she felt her legs being swept out from underneath her and she hit the ground hard on her back.

_'Damn it!'_ the neko cursed in her mind. Gritting her teeth in pain, she looked up and her eyes went wide as she saw Deidara's foot positioned just above her head.

"Heh, too slow," he remarked before slamming his foot down. Fortunately for Emi, she was able to quickly move out of the way and avoid Deidara's foot, which left a large hole in the ground. Deidara looked over at her and his smirk grew. "So, you do got some skills. It's rare for anyone to have avoided that from such a close range. Heh, I'm almost impressed, un."

Emi's eye twitched as she heard the bomber's words. "'A-Almost impressed!?' You smug bastard!"

Grabbing onto the handle of her scythe tightly, Emi swung the weapon and to Deidara's surprise, the blade came flying towards him at an alarming speed, connected to the handle by a cable. The bomber just barely had enough room to dodge the scythe but the blade did manage to slice the bottom part of his cloak and it didn't go unnoticed.

_'Crap, that was close,'_ Deidara thought to himself. _'This Catgirl…she may be worth my while after all, un.'_

* * *

In the bushes, Sasori was watching the battle closely and he smiled softly. "Careful brat. You cut it pretty close there."

* * *

Deidara rolled on the ground and got to a kneeling position, placing his hand in his pouch. "Heh, tried to pull a fast one on me, huh. Well, I've got something special to pay you back for that."

Emi retracted the scythe blade back to the handle bar and stood up, gripping it with both hands tightly. "Bring it on! Show me what the big bad Akatsuki's got!"

A sneer crossed Deidara's face as he took his hand out of his pouch and proceeded to launch several bombs at Emi, the clay taking on the form of various birds. Emi began to run backwards to put distance between her and the birds while she extended her scythe again and began the swing the blade at the birds. Deidara maneuvered the birds gracefully through the air, making sure that the scythe didn't hit them.

Eventually, Emi backed up into a tree. _'Fuck!'_ she cursed as she found herself backed into a corner.

A laugh came from Deidara. "Oh look, the little cat has nowhere to go! It's time I finished this!"

The bomber forced one of the birds at Emi. Thinking quickly, Emi threw her scythe up into the tree and onto a branch before turning around and climbing the trunk, avoiding the bird that exploded on contact with the tree.

Deidara frowned. "Hmph, the bitch is quick on her feet, un."

The explosion caused the tree to become engulfed in fire and the flames began to raise up the tree after Emi. The Neko reached the branch that had her scythe hooked onto it and retrieved her weapon. She looked down and saw the fire racing up the tree. "Oh man, where's my brother when I need him!?" she exclaimed.

"Hahaha, what do you plan on doing now!" Deidara yelled out at her, thinking victory was only a second away. "You're as good as finished, un!"

Emi looked in his direction and rolled her eyes. "Oh please! The last thing you should do is underestimate me!" Bending down to get a good bounce in her legs, Emi leapt off the branch and high above the tree.

Deidara looked up and saw Emi in the air and scoffed. "Nothing special, un." Forming his clay owl, Deidara hopped on it and took off into the sky after Emi, his other clay birds following behind him. "You've done nothing but leave yourself wide open Catgirl!" A few hand signs later, Deidara sent his clay birds after the Neko.

Emi looked and saw Deidara coming towards her, along with the birds and in midair, she began to swing her scythe around in a fluid motion quickly and in repetition, making it resemble a figure-eight type of symbol around her.

* * *

Sasori took note of the Neko's action. "Hmm, smart. She's swinging that scythe around in that fashion to shield herself and, if she's lucky, to destroy Deidara's birds." His smile remained on his face. "Clever. Very clever."

* * *

"Nice move, I'll admit," said Deidara as he held his hands in a sign. " Unfortunately for you, you know not the explosion power those birds have! Katsu!" In the next instant, the birds which were just outside of the scythe's range, exploded together, the force causing Emi to blow backwards and knock her out of her shielded position. Part of the explosion also got her a bit on her right arm and she hissed in pain.

"Argh, what a sneaky move!" she said as she held her arm. "I should've expected this from that Akatsuki scum!" She went silent for a second before narrowing her eyes. "Fine then, if that's how it's gonna be, then I can play dirty too! Heh, I got a few tricks up my sleeves too!" She stopped herself from going further in the air and it looked like she was almost levitating.

* * *

Sasori's usually calm eyes narrowed just a bit. "Hmm? What's this? She's…floating, it seems. Hmm, interesting."

* * *

Emi placed her scythe on her shoulder as she looked at Deidara' who was flying just a few feet away from her at this point. "I really didn't think that you would give me this much of a headache," she said. "But it looks like you're a lot tougher than I expected.

Deidara smirked. "I could say the same about you. But believe me when I tell you, you will be captured Catgirl. That I can assure you of, un."

Emi placed a hand on one of her shapely hips. "Someone's sure full of themselves. I don't intend to go anywhere with you and if me having to go to this level in order to do that, then so be it."

Deidara raised an eyebrow. "What level, un? What the hell are you talking about?"

Emi smirked. "You'll find out."

Deidara looked at the Neko in confusion until something caught his attention. He felt a breeze blow by him. He didn't pay it no mind until he felt it gradually begin to pick up. "What the hell?" he asked out loud as the wind got faster.

* * *

On the ground, Sasori also felt the change in the wind and he looked around calmly at the blowing leaves and bushes around him. "Hmm, I wonder…" He adverted his gaze up to the air and his smile returned. "As I thought."

* * *

In the air, both Sasori and Deidara saw a cyclone had began to form around Emi. Many of the leaves, as well as some of the fire from the burning tree under her, had mixed into the vortex, giving it a redish glow. Then the red color was replaced by a mixture of light blue and silver. And all the while, Emi was smirking from inside the cyclone, her long air blowing in the air behind her.

Deidara frowned, never taking his eyes off of her. "Looks like my scope was on the mark after all. So, this is your true power."

"You got that right," Emi said, hissing. "And I'm going to use it to kick your ass."

_**~End Of Chapter 3~**_

* * *

_**~Author's Note~**_

_**Deidara and Emi's battle got off to one hell of a start with neither one of them being able to get the upper hand! But it looks like the tides have turned as Emi has revealed the source of her power! Looks like Deidara's scope wasn't screwy after all! What is Emi capable of with this incredible power? And who will prevail in the on-going battle between her and Deidara?**_

_**Find out next time! Until then my fellow readers and authors, later and happy reading!**_


	4. Emi's Power Unleashed

_**~Yoki Shinai Misshon~**_

_**~Chapter 4: Emi's Power Unleashed~**_

"Kick my ass, you say?" Deidara said with a smirk. "Heh, we'll just see about that, un."

Emi, still floating in the air, held one of her hands out in front of her. "You just keep on smirking and acting smug. It'll make it all the more sweeter after I smash you!" Her hand began to glow blue as it gathered some of the surrounding air in her palm. "_**Eashuta**_!"

The neko fired three small tornadoes from her hand that spiraled towards Deidara at an alarming speed.

A small laugh came from Deidara. "Heh, this looks like it's gonna be fun, un!" He flew down towards the forest, the tornadoes right on his heels. Deidara ducked and dodged many of the trees and branches as the tornadoes followed him and slashed right through them trees.

"Don't think you can escape so easily!" Emi yelled out as she controlled the tornadoes. "Those things will follow you forever if they have to!"

"Forever huh?" Deidara repeated. "Heh, let's see how long you can keep this up, un!"

Emi's eye twitched a bit. _'Smug son of a bitch! I'll show him not to underestimate me! Try to avoid this one!' _"_**Eashuta**_!"

She formed three more tornadoes and sent them into the forest after Deidara, only this time she sent them to come from in front of him instead of behind.

"Hmm, good trick," Deidara said out loud with a smile as he saw the tornadoes coming at him. "But not good enough!"

The bomber got into a more upright crouched position on the owl and places his hand inside his pouch at the same time. Once the tornadoes, both the one behind and in front of him, got closer to him, he leapt forward and used incredible athleticism to maneuver between the tornadoes. The owl also swept out of the way and, as a result, the tornadoes collided wit each other and sent a large gust of wind throughout the entire area.

Blown by the wind, Deidara landed on the branch of a tree and smirked as he saw the wind destroying some of the nearby trees and sending them flying. "It may not be an explosion, but that is a marvelous sight, un."

As he gazed at the destruction in front of him, Deidara didn't notice that Emi had flown down into the forest and quickly closed the distance between him and her, kicking him in the side of the head and sending him down to the ground. "Ha!" she said proudly as she landed on the branch gracefully. "Take that!"

Deidara hit the ground on his back, but quickly kipped up to his feet, looking up at her. "Heh, nice move. You're pretty quick on your feet. But unfortunately, not quick enough, un."

Emi raised an eyebrow. "What the hell are you talking about? I just clobbered you!"

Deidara smiled a dark grin. "As fast as you may be, you're pretty slow when it comes to certain things, un."

As the bomber began to form some hand signs, it was then that Emi felt something crawling up her arm. She looked down and her face scrunched up when she saw ants on her arm. "How the hell did they get there? They weren't there before…"

Suddenly, it hit her. When she kicked Deidara down to the ground, she noticed that he took his hand and swiped it down her arm beforehand. "Wait…Oh, no!"

"Hahaha, you got it!" Deidara concluded for her. "Katsu!"

Thinking quickly, Emi held her arms out and yelled out, "_**Sutōmutorunēdo**_!"

In an instant, A gigantic tornado formed around Emi, generating a large upward gust of wind that sent up the exploding ants up along with it, mere milliseconds before they exploded.

Deidara cursed out loud. "Lucky bitch, un…"

Emi controlled the wind and manipulated it until the tornado formed around the fiery explosion caused by the ants and she glared down at Deidara. "Eat this!" She then sent the wind/fire ball down towards the bomber.

Deidara backflipped out of the way and landed on his owl, which had swooped back down to the forest. "Man, this catbitch is lasting much longer than I thought she would, un." He flew off into the sky, thinking of what he could do to bring Emi down.

The neko saw Deidara flying away and she immediately gave chase. "You're not getting away from me that easy!"

Deidara whipped his long hair back, scoffing. "It's only fair. You had me chase your scrawny ass around this forest so this makes us even, un."

Emi's eye twitched. "S-Scrawny…? Scrawny!? Did you just call me scrawny!?"

The bomber smirked back at her. "I didn't stutter catgirl."

Emi clenched her fists and yet out a shrill yell. "That does it! No one calls me that and gets away with it! _**Daburusaikuron**_!"

Emi held her hands out in front of her and two green aura cyclones shot out of her palms, going in opposite directions towards Deidara before they started to close in on him from the right and left.

"Cyclones huh?" Deidara said, unimpressed. "You're gonna have to do better than that, un!" He flew upwards to get out of the range of the cyclones, expecting them to collide with each other and do away with the attack.

Emi smirked as she floated in midair. "Ha! Just what I expected you to do!" She performed a few hand signs and as a result, the cyclones turned and flew upwards after Deidara.

"Damn it," he cursed. "She can even control these things too…Alright then, time to put this girl in her place!"

Noticing that the cyclones were extending from Emi's hands, Deidara got an idea. He stood up on his owl, gathered some clay in his hands and formed them to resemble birds and butterflies. "Heh, this one is gonna be a real big one!"

From her position in the air, Emi pondered what Deidara was up to. "What the hell is he gonna do now?"

Waiting until the cyclones got closer to him, Deidara looked for his spot until he saw it. "It's all over!" He proceeded to send all of his birds and butterflies into the cyclones.

Emi's eyes went wide in realization at what he was doing. "This isn't good!" She then began to spin her tail around as quickly as she could.

Deidara formed his signature hand sign before laughing out loud. "you did good Catgirl, but this fight is mine, un! Katsu!"

The birds and butterflies inside the cyclones exploded at the same time, sending the explosion traveling through them and to Emi herself. The neko yelled out as the explosions hit her full force and sent her flying through the air.

"Got you!" Deidara said as he began to soar towards Emi. "You're all mine now!"

Suddenly, the bomber and his owl were caught in a massive gust of wind from out of nowhere. "W-What the hell is going on!" he yelled out as he barely manages to stay on his owl. Seconds later, the owl lost its control and started to plummet towards the ground and Deidara braced himself for the impact. The owl neared closer and closer to the ground and just before it hit, Deidara launched himself off the owl and rolled along until he was in a kneeling position. Catching his breath, he looked and saw the fiery remains of his owl and growled.

"What the hell just happened!" he exclaimed as he grit his teeth.

"Leave it to you to get so caught up in battle and not realize things. You're just the same as her, it seems."

Deidara's eyes widened as he looked to his side and saw Sasori standing next to him. "What!" he said in a mixture of anger, confusion, and annoyance. "What the hell are you talking about!?"

Sasori sighed softly as he closed his eyes. "You didn't see it, but just before you caused those creations of yours to explode, the neko spun her tail and created a force of wind from it. She sent it at you right after that explosion hit her."

Deidara was in disbelief. "That…sneaky little bitch! How did I not notice that, un!"

Sasori glanced down at the bomber. "It would seem that our opponent is far better than we realized. Even I will admit that I didn't expect this from her."

Deidara scoffed. "Well she isn't going to last much longer, un! That explosion took a lot out of her!"

Sasori raised an eyebrow before looking back up in the sky. "Oh really? Are you sure about that?"

Deidara followed his gaze. "Of course I…" he trailed off as he saw a familiar blue and silver aura coming down towards Sasori and himself and narrowed his eyes. "Why am I not fucking surprised, un…"

The aura landed just a few meters away from them and it dispersed, leaving Emi in its wake with hardly a scratch on her. "So what, is that it?" she asked cockily, placing a hand on her hip. "You throwing in the towel and giving up?"

Sasori smiled softly. "Him? Give up? Oh, perish the thought. Deidara never gives up."

"Whatever," Emi retorted. "Now get the hell out of the way Red so I can finish this!"

Sasori stood his ground and looked at Emi with a soft, but at the same time intense, glare. "And what if I don't?"

Emi frowned as she formed her scythe in her hand. "Then I'll go through you as well!"

Sasori chuckled a bit. "It's been a while since I've seen any action. I'm also curious as to what you can do against me. So…" He proceeded to get into a fighting stance. "Entertain me, will you?"

Emi gripped her weapon tightly. "Oh, trust me, I'll do much more than that!"

Deidara stood beside Sasori, looking over at him. "Heh, hey Master, how about the good ol' fashioned double team, un?"

Sasori met his partner's gaze with a nod. "Sounds good to me."

Emi watched as the two Akatsuki began to close in on her. "So, it's two on one now, is it? Well, that's just fine with me! Bring it on!"

_**~End Of Chapter 4~**_

* * *

_**~Author's Note~**_

_**So now Emi has shown what she is capable of with her phenomenal powers and gave Deidara quite a run for his money! But both of them matched each other move for move with neither of them getting a decisive advantage! But now it looks like Emi is going to have her hands full as she takes on not only Deidara, but Sasori as well! Will the two Akatsuki overwhelm her? Or will Emi find a way to overcome the deadly combination of Deidara and Sasori?**_

_**Find out next time! Until then my fellow readers and authors, later and happy reading!**_


	5. Sasori Joins The Fray

_**~Yoki Shinai Misshon~**_

_**~Chapter 5: Sasori Joins The Fray~**_

Sasori smiled softly as he pulled something out from his cloak. "It seems like this one truly is the feisty one."

Scoffing, Deidara looked over at the puppeteer with a raised eyebrow. "Oh no, really? What was your first thought Master, un?"

Emi clutched her scythe tighter as she saw the object in Sasori's hand, which she recognized as a summoning scroll of some sort. 'What the hell is that one up to?'

Ignoring his partner's snide comment, Sasori's hand, as well as the summoning scroll he was holding, glowed purple. "Well Deidara, what do you say we...shut Catgirl's mouth and teach her some manners?"

"Heh, you read my mind," said Deidara smugly as he placed one of his hands into his pouch. "By the way, I recognize that scroll. So, you've decided to break that puppet out, have you Master? It's been a while since I've seen that one, un."

Sasori closed his eyes, his smile growing. "What can I say? It is my favorite after all. And besides, unlike you, I don't intend to waste any more time than we already have."

Emi was beginning to get fed up with the Akatsuki members and yelled out, "Hey! How much longer are you going to chitchat! Are we gonna fight, or aren't we!"

Deidara looked at the neko and smirked. "Looks like someone's just as impatient as you Sasori, my man, un."

Sasori chuckled a bit. "Well then, let's not keep her waiting any longer."

The scroll in Sasori's hand exploded in a large puff of smoke and once it dispersed a large human shaped objected appeared in its wake. It was wearing a long black cloak over its body and had an empty expression on its face.

Emi was slightly taken aback by the object. _'What the hell? What in the world is…oh, I see.'_ After getting a better look at it, she looked up and met Sasori's eyes. "So, you're a puppeteer, are you?"

Sasori got into a fighting style, the puppet on his back and holding his hands in a cross shape. "You catch on quick. Allow me to present to you the Third Kazekage. It took me quite a while to modify him into the puppet you see before you. Truly the greatest of my collection, wouldn't you agree?"

The neko's eyes widened. 'A_…human puppet? The Third Kazekage…'_ She looked at the empty look on the face of what was once the greatest Kazekage and a look of determination appeared on her face. _'Don't worry…I'll avenge you.'_ Emi looked the puppet over once more before she levitated in the air a bit and held her scythe at the ready. "Hmph, it doesn't matter what the hell you or that are! I'll do you and blondie both in! You're gonna be sorry you ever messed with me!"

Deidara shook his head. "Geez, what a damn loudmouth. Master, let's get this over with. This chick is really starting to piss me off, un."

Sasori nodded his head. "Agreed. Let's do this."

After connecting his fingers to the puppet by use of chakra strings, Sasori sent the puppet after Emi at a blazing speed. Deidara leapt onto the back of the puppet and rode on it, smiling a dark smile as he and the puppet closed in on Emi. "We're coming for you Catgirl!"

Emi held onto her scythe as she flew backwards, trying to put some distance between her and the puppet but it was quickly closing the distance. 'Damn, that thing is fast!'

Sasori crosses his arms into an "X" shape and as a result, the puppet's right arm extended and in the next instant, numerous blades protruded from it and it swung its arm forcefully and swiftly at Emi. The neko quickly blocked the attack with her scythe and felt herself being pushed backwards by the still oncoming puppet.

Deidara leapt up into the air right above Emi, pointing his open palm right down at her. "Eat this!" The mouth on his palm opened and numerous clay birds, insects, and spiders emerged from his hand and descended towards her.

"Oh crap!" Emi exclaimed as she pushed herself off of the puppet's blade and took off flying into the air.

Deidara watched her fly away and laughed as his clay birds took off after her. "Don't think you're gonna get away that easy, un!"

Sasori chuckled as he sent his puppet up after Emi in the opposite direction. "She sure does love playing cat and mouse, doesn't she?"

As she soared through the air, Emi looked behind her and saw the clay birds were right on her tail. "Man, those clay things are a lot faster than the last bunch blondie sent out! I've got to make sure they don't get too close because of those freaking explosions!" Looking back to the front, Emi gasped as she saw the puppet flying right for her.

Deidara grinned darkly. "Looks like the mouse is trapped with no way out, un!"

Sasori made a slight motion with his finger. "Let's see what she does against this."

The puppet began spinning in multiple angles, having its bladed arm extended outwards and Emi knew she was in trouble. One false move, and she could hang it up. 'There's gotta be some way to dodge this and those damn birds…!' She thought and she began to think of what she could do to escape the dangerous situation she was in. Suddenly, her eyes went wide as a thought crossed her mind. 'Wait! That's it! I just have to be quick enough to pull this off!'

"Heh, there's no way she's getting out of this one!" Deidara laughed. "She stood no chance against the two of us, un!"

Sasori narrowed his eyes a bit. _'Deidara, don't be too sure of that.'_

Emi continued to fly until she was just a few feet away from the oncoming puppet and that's when she made her move. "Here we go!" The neko quickly spun her body around a few times to get enough momentum and she did a sudden dive downwards, sending the puppet towards the clay birds.

Deidara's eyes went wide. "Oh, shoot!"

Sasori cursed mentally as he swung his hands up, moving the puppet out of the way of the birds. "Damn. Crafty one, she is."

Emi flipped her body upright and she landed on a current of wind with her feet. "Just my luck," she said with a soft smile. "It's time to kick this up a notch!" Emi pulled on her scythe and the blade retracted to its original position. Afterwards, she placed the scythe over her shoulder and rode the wind current down towards the ground.

Deidara barred his teeth slightly as he saw Emi riding the ring. "Windsurfing…I should've expected as much, un. Such a showoff of a Catbitch…" He watched as he saw Emi heading towards the forest and he gathered a bit more clay in his hands before taking off running at the edge of the trees.

"What the hell is that brat doing?" Sasori wondered out loud as he maneuvered the puppet to flying down at Emi, extending its bladed arm outward.

Deidara continued to run until he reached the trees on the edge of the forest and quickly leapt at a few of them, placing a few clay insects and spiders on the branches. "That takes care of that. Now for that Catbitch, un." The bomber leapt out of the trees and right at Emi, who was closing in on the trees.

Emi looked ahead of her and saw Deidara coming and held her scythe as if it were a baseball bat. "You're finished!" She yelled out in primal rage as she swung it at Deidara with incredible speed.

Deidara effortlessly front-flipped out of the way of the attack and landed on the back of the puppet. "Heh, nice try! But try this on for size, un!"

Deidara leapt off the puppet while at the same time Sasori thrust both of his hands forward. Emi was knocked off balance from her swing of the scythe and she turned around only to come get hit with a well-placed kick to the face from Deidara as well as multiple punches to the stomach from the puppet.

Emi yelled out in pain as she was knocked off the wind current and fell right into the forest. As she did, Deidara and the puppet got out of the way of the clay birds that followed the neko into the forest.

Sasori moved his hands to the side, moving the puppet a fair distance from the forest. "Well Deidara, if you're going to do it, do it now."

The bomber smirked as he stood tall on the shoulders of the puppet and did a few handsigns. "This oughta lay her out for good, un! Katsu!"

Every single one of the clay bombs Deidara created that were inside the forest simultaneously exploded and soon the entire forest area Emi has crashed landed into went up in an intense blaze.

Deidara gazed almost longingly at the flames as the puppet began to descend towards the ground. "Beautiful…" he said, marveling at the sight. "Art truly is…an explosion, un…"

Sasori rolled his eyes as he brought the puppet in for a landing and looked at his partner. "You and your damn explosions. I swear, you're like a kid at times when it comes to your bombs."

Deidara smirked and placed a hand on his hip and stood on top of the puppet. "Come on now Master. You can't tell me that you can't find beauty and magnificence in the fiery remains of those trees, un."

Sasori narrowed his eyes. "Yes I can, actually. Now, if you don't mind, get off of my puppet brat."

Chuckling, Deidaa responded, "Whatever you say Sasori, my man." Afterwards, he leapt off the puppet and stood beside his fellow Akatsuki member, who let out a sigh.

"Deidara," he began. "Don't you think you may have overdone it? We need the neko alive. She's no good to us dead."

Deidara grinned as his eyes glowed from the flames of the trees. "No worries Master. With the kind of power we saw her use, she should be strong enough to survive that, un. Heh, though to be honest, she may not be flying or walking much after this."

Sasori let out a soft growl as he heard his partner begin to laugh. "For your sake, you'd better be right."

"Trust me Master," said Deidara one his laughter subsided. "Now, let's go find her, un."

"Correction, you go find her," Sasori said, looking at the burning trees. "You're the one that caused that catastrophe, after all."

Rolling his eyes, Deidara said, "Fine, fine. Be back in a flash, un." The bomber began to walk towards the trees and a sneer appeared on his face as he etched closer towards them. "She gave me a good run for my money. But in the end, she couldn't hold a candle to me, un."

Suddenly, an object came shooting out of the trees. "What the hell!" Deidara cursed as he backflipped out of the way, just barely avoiding what he recognized as Emi's scythe. The weapon almost connected with his neck and had he not jumped backwards, it more than likely would've taken his head off.

Landing back beside Sasori, Deidara looked back at the trees with his teeth barred and a shocked expression. "There's no way she should even be conscious right now!"

Sasori simply remained silent as he watched some of the flames in the burning forest disperse as a figure walked out of it, putting said flames out and he saw it was Emi. She and her clothes were burned and charred from the explosion, but still, it wasn't as much as it should've been.

"Hmm, like the brat said, there's no way you should even be walking right now," said Sasori as he looked Emi over once more. "Tell us, how are you still up and about?"

Emi smirked as she created a small barrier of wind around here. "This is the answer to your question. My affinity for wind is not just offensive, you know. I can also use it defensively and this shield you see around me took a giant chunk out of that explosion." She twirled her scythe around before placing it on her shoulder. "And there is some truth to what you said. You almost – keyword, almost - had me there. Had it not been for my wind barrier, you may have very well done me in. But to be completely honest…" she looked at the Akatsuki members, her smirk growing. "That explosion wasn't all that dangerous and nothing to worry about in the first place."

Deidara growled almost insanely and clenched his fists tightly in pure rage. "That's…it! I've had it up to here with this bitch!"

Sasori closed his eyes. "Even I will admit she is becoming rather bothersome." He looked in Deidara's direction and asked, "What do you say we stop beating around the bush and do what we should've done in the beginning?"

Deidara calmed himself but was still seething. "I thought you'd never ask."

Emi raised an eyebrow. "What are you two talking about?"

Deidara placed his hands into his pouch and took them both out, a crazed smile on his face. "You'll find out all in due time…All you need to know…is that the kiddie gloves are off, un."

Sasori undid his cloak and placed it to the side. Emi's eyes went wide in shock at what she saw – Sasori's body was literally the body of a puppet. "What…the hell? You, you're…a puppet? How…how can that be? How is it possible?"

The puppeteer didn't respond. He simply held his head up and his closed eyes snapped wide open in an almost mechanical way. At the same time, poles protruded from his hips and five large blades formed from them, resembling propellers.

"Oh man…" Emi said in an unsure voice as she saw the new Sasori.

"Heh, and you haven't seen anything yet!" Deidara yelled out as a large stream of clay came from his hands and began to take on a gigantic form underneath him.

The neko watched with wide eyes as the clay figure got larger and larger until it stopped growing and she gasped slightly. "You've got to be fucking joking…"

Standing before Emi was an incredibly large clay dragon, its gigantic head leering down at her and on top of the head was Deidara himself, grinning sadistically down at the neko. "You're completely out of your league Catgirl! You may have been lucky to survive that explosion, but this time you may as well get on your knees and beg for mercy!"

Emi, though a bit overwhelmed at the sight of both the dragon and Sasori, stood her ground. "Heh, no more kiddie gloves, I believe was the term you used, am I right? I guess it's safe for me to assume that applies to me as well!"

Sasori turned his neck to the sides a bit, in a fashion that seemed like he was cracking his neck. "Seems like she's been holding back as well."

Deidara flipped his hair behind him and pointed at Emi. "Go on! Show us what you got! It'll make it all the more sweeter when we beat you!"

_'Heh, these two have no idea what they got themselves into.'_ Emi thought as she closed her eyes. Then she opened them back as a gust of wind appeared around her. "Alright! You two are going down!"

The wind picked up around Emi until it lifted her up off the ground and she held her scythe up above her while closing her eyes. Soon the wind formed around her and a sphere and seconds later, shot out in three directions to the ground, three small tornadoes forming in their place. After the tornadoes disappeared, what appeared in their place were three exact clones of Emi, each one of them with a scythe of their own.

"Hmm, clones," said Sasori as he looked at them. "But these seem a bit…different than your average clone."

The real Emi landed back on the ground and, upon closer inspection, it was revealed that her wounds and injuries had been healed.

"Crap, she healed herself while doing that little trick," Deidara cursed.

Emi opened her eyes and looked at her two opponents, getting into a fighting stance. "This should be a lot more interesting. Now you've got not one, but four of me to deal with."

The other three Emi's responded by twirling their scythes and getting into fighting stances of their own, ready for battle.

"Heh, four of you means four times the fun!" said Deidara in a mocking tone. "Let's finish this once and for all Master, un!"

"Yes, let's," said Sasori as his propellers began to turn and Deidara's dragon let out a roar.

Emi narrowed her eyes before letting out a primal yell. "Let's do this!"

With that being said, two of the Emi's went after Deidara and his dragon while the other two went after the transformed Sasori.

_**~End Of Chapter 5~**_

* * *

_**~Author's Note~**_

_**It looks like Emi was still able to hold her own against Deidara and Sasori! She even managed to survive the huge explosion of Deidara's clay creations as well as the Third Kazekage! But now, it's come down to this! No one is holding anything back any longer and all three are now fighting at their full strength! Will Emi and her clones find a way to defeat Deidara and Sasori? Or will the Akatsuki's advanced ninjutsu skills earn them the victory over Emi?**_

_**Find out next time! Until then, my fellow readers and authors, later and happy reading!**_


	6. Target Captured

_**~Yoki Shinai Misshon~**_

_**~Chapter 6: Target Captured~**_

Sasori stood his ground as he saw the two Emis quickly approaching him, both of them swinging their scythes at various angles as well as quickly switching positions as they closed distance between them and himself. _'Hmm, trying to throw me off guard with quick and precise movements as well as keeping me thing with what they will do with their weapons. Good strategy, but not good enough.'_

The puppeteer held his hands out in front of him and opened his palms. This didn't go unnoticed by the Emis. "Hey look!" The first one said. "He's up to something!"

"I can see that!" the other replied as she held her scythe tighter. "Stay on your toes and watch out for any tricks he tries to pull!"

Sasori kept the same mechanical and maniacal look on his face as the scroll holder on his back began to glow. "Try your best to dodge this one." A clicking sound was heard and a compartment on both of his palms opened, and out of them came pipes. Another clicking sound was heard and in the next instant two streams of fire came from the pipes and made beelines for both Emis.

"Holy crap!" the nekos exclaimed in unison. "Split up!"

The Emis flew off in opposite directions, just barely avoiding the fire. Sasori began to move his hands in the same directions the Emis went. "Heh, another cat and mouse game I see. I hope you are as quick as you say. Otherwise, you'll be one burnt cat."

As the Emis flew off in the own directions, the fire was quickly closing distance with them, as well as setting the trees and shrubs it came in contact with ablaze until the surrounding area was set on fire. "Damn it!" one of the Emi's yelled out as she ducked and dodged trees. "He'll bring down the whole forest if this keeps up!"

Meanwhile, the other Emi escaping the flamethrowers was thinking the same thing. "We've got to think of a way around this!" Her eyes went wide in realization as a light bulb went off in her head. "Wait! That's it!" She began to telepathically contact the other Emi and relayed a message to her.

"Awesome idea!" she said with a confident smirk. "Let's do it!"

The nekos soared high above the forest and met each other above Sasori in the air. _'What are they up to?'_ The puppeteer thought to himself as he moved his hands upwards to them. _'Hmph. Whatever it is, I'm ready for it.'_

The two Emis levitated back-to back in the air as they held their scythes out towards the flames and yelled out, "_**Kaze No Shuredda**_!"

A windy shadow clone came from both of the Emi's and flew extremely fast towards Sasori, both of them going through the flamethrowers with no problem at all, which caught Sasori's attention. "More clones. Why am I not surprised. But those seem to be made from air itself and aren't affected by my flames."

"Heh, we got him!" said one of the Emis.

"There's no way he can avoid those!" said the other. "They're going to slice him to bits!"

Sasori watched as the two wind clones were a few feet from him, both of them lifting their scythes to attack him. "Heh. Child's play." The propellers on his body moved to the front of his body, began to spin rapidly, and he flew backwards, avoiding the clones' attacks.

"What the hell!?" one of the Emi's exclaimed. "He can freaking fly!?"

"That really pisses me off!" said the other as she gripped her scythe tightly in her hands. "Let's bum rush him! He won't be able to take us as well as those wind clones on at once!"

"I'm all for that!" the first Emi responded. "Let's take it to him!"

The two of them flew down full speed at Sasori and joined the wind clones in their assault. _'Heh, she's not holding anything back now,'_ Sasori thought to himself, his lips curving into a slight smirk. _'This is more like it.'_

* * *

"Come on! Is that really the best you can do!?" Deidara said, taunting the two Emis that were hot on his trail as he soared through the air on his dragon. "I'm not even breaking a sweat!"

One of the Emi's growled as she flew until she was right beside him. "You just keep on talking smack!"

The other flew until she was right above him. "It'll make it all the more sweeter for us when we kick your smug ass!" She, as well as the other Emi,held her scythe as if to swing a baseball bat and they yelled out in unison, "_**Tsubasa Supairaru**_!"

The swung their scythes and whirlwinds came from them, both of them slightly increasing in size with each second.

Deidara's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "More wind huh? Well it ain't gonna work on me this time, un!"

The dragon flew downwards, avoiding getting hit by the whirlwinds. However, the two cyclones merged together into one and grew even larger before giving chase to the dragon.

"Don't think that you can get away so easily!" said the Emis before they too chased after Deidara.

The bomber smirked as he looked back and saw the massive whirlwind approaching him from behind. "She obviously hasn't learned from her past mistake. Well I have no problem at all teaching her this again, un!" Deidara began to form small clay birds in his hands and once they were formed, he sent them flying backwards into the vortex.

One of the Emis saw it. "Hey! He's gonna try to blow up the cyclone again like he did last time!"

"Well, he's not gonna get the chance this time!" said the other neko. "Let's send it at him full force!"

The first Emi nodded and the two of them held their palms out to the cyclone and let out a primal yell, exerting force to send the whirlwind after Deidara even faster than it already was.

"Aw shit!" the bomber cursed. "Those bitches saw through my plan! Grr, I guess she did learn from her mistake! I better motor, un!"

Kneeling down on the dragon, Deidara picked up speed until he was right above the trees. He did a quick turned and was now flying just barely above the trees. The whirlwind turned as well, and it was so powerful that it sucked some of the trees out of the ground and into it. As the trees swirled inside the whirlwind, it was inevitable – they collided with the clay birds and a huge explosion occurred, causing the whirlwind to turn into a massive funnel of fire and flames.

"Fuck," Deidara cursed as he grit his teeth. "That didn't go nowhere as planned, un."

"Let's take him down once and for all!" said one of the Emis. "Lets fire it off at him with all we've got!"

The other nodded and they exerted more pressure into the flaming whirlwind to send it flying right at the dragon. Deidara sped the dragon up more but he knew that he wasn't going to be able to outrun the whirlwind for long. _'Damn it! Time for me to get the hell out of here, un!'_ The bomber dismounted the dragon and descended down towards the ground just seconds before the whirlwind collided with the dragon. The huge beast let out a loud roar just moments before it exploded, covering the entire sky and area in a fiery reddish color.

* * *

Sasori looked up and saw the gigantic explosion in the distance and mentally cursed. _'Damn that brat. I don't know what the hell he's thinking. Is he trying to blow the entire place up or something?'_

He was brought back to the fight he himself was in as he saw one of the Emis come at him and swing her scythe at him, aiming for his neck. Sasori back-flipped out of the way while at the same time his scroll holder glowed again. He held his hands out to the Emi in front of him and his eyes, if possible, widened more in an insane fashion. "Take this!" The pipes appeared in his hands again and this time, water shot out of them.

"Oh cra-!" the Emi managed to get out as she tried to move out of the way, but the water managed to cut her across her cut slightly, causing her to yell out as she began to plummet towards the ground.

"Hold on!" the other Emi called out as she swept down after the neko. "I'm coming!"

Sasori aimed one of his hands at the other Emi. "I don't think so." He twisted his wrist and shot another blast of water out, this one a lot more intense than his last shot.

The injured Emi was etching closer and closer to the ground until the other Emi caught her in her arms. Then, a split second later, a sheering pain went through both of them as Sasori's water-jet had blasted right through their chests.

"Bullseye," The puppeteer said as he began to slowly lower towards the ground.

The Emis landed on the ground in a heap, blood seeping them their wounds. "D-Damn it…" the one on the bottom muttered. "W-What the hell kind of water is that…?"

The other one coughed and clutched her chest. "Water-jets, it seems…powerful enough to slice through rock…and flesh too, for that matter…"

The sounds of screaming could be heard and the two Emis only had time to turn their heads to the direction of it before they were plowed into by two scorched bodies, knocking all four of them flat on the ground. The two bodies belonged to the other two Emis, who had gotten caught in the huge explosion on the other side of the forest. Groans came from all four of the nekos until three of them disappeared in a gust of wind, leaving only the real Emi behind.

Sasori landed on the ground, his propellers still spinning a bit. "It would appear that your clones are gone. Tough break."

Badly injured, Emi coughed up a bit of blood before narrowing her eyes at Sasori.

Sasori turned his head slightly to the side and hmphed. "And here I was thinking you got caught up in the blast."

Emi was about to ask who he was talking to until she laid eyes on a large clay owl descending down until it was right beside Sasori. _'That fucking bastard survived…'_

On top of the owl, a slightly burned Deidara smirked and crossed his arms. "Really now. Like I would die that easily. Heh, you should know me better than that Sasori, my man."

A slight frown of annoyance came to Sasori's face before he turned his head back to Emi. "Anyways, we've got business to take care of here."

Emi defiantly wiped the blood from her mouth and got back to her feet, gripping her scythe tightly in a fighting stance. "Back to doing the little sissy-talking amongst yourselves, I see…Enough of the talking…I'm gonna put both of you in the ground…"

Sasori watched as the neko began to stagger towards them. "Hmm, would you look at that? She still wants to fight."

"Heh, she's not gonna be in a fighting mood in just a few moments Master," said Deidara in a sneaky tone.

Sasori looked at his partner, a questioning look on his face. "What are you babbling about?"

Deidara held his hands up in a handsign, an almost sick look appearing on his face. "Just watch, un. Come on Catgirl, just a little bit closer…"

Sasori wondered what Deidara had up his sleeve as he saw the handsign he made. Then he looked back at Emi and closed his eyes in realization. "Brat, you'd better not be doing what I think you are."

"Heh heh heh," Deidara chuckled darkly. "This bitch is toast, un…"

Emi held her scythe up, preparing for an attack. "You two are finished…!"

Deidara's eyes went wide open as he began to laugh evilly. "You're the one that's finished! Katsu!"

As soon as Deidara said that, the ground underneath Emi began to rumble. _'What the fuck…?'_ the neko thought to herself as she looked down. She saw that the ground was rising slightly under her and she immediately knew what was happening. "Oh man…!" she yelled out as she tried to move but she was too heavily injured and she fell to the ground from trying to move too fast. In the next instant, the ground under her erupted in an enormous explosion that engulfed her in fire, her loud and pained scream being heard for miles.

"Ha! Got the bitch!" Deidara laughed out as Sasori remained silent.

Emi was launched up in the air from the explosion and her body had been badly burned all over. _'Damn it all to Hell…'_ she thought as she started to fall back down to the ground. _'How…did I not see that coming…?'_ She crashed down to the ground on her back, smoke coming from her body and her breathing uneven.

"Heh, that'll teach her what happens when you mess with me, un," Deidara bragged.

"Brat, you truly are too hot-headed for your own good," said Sasori as the openings in his hands closed and the propellers folded up and went back inside his body.

Deidara raised his eyebrow at his partner. "What're you talking about Master? I just completely did that girl in, un!"

Sasori sighed as his eyes went back to their normal gaze. "You'd better hope that she's not dead. Our orders were to bring her back alive, remember?"

The bomber's eyes went wide and he smacked his forehead with his palm. "Oh crap, I forgot about that. Fuck, I probably overdid it, un."

"For your sake, you'd better hope you di…" Sasori was cut off as he turned his gaze back towards Emi and his eyes widened slightly.

Deidara noticed Sasori go silent and followed his gaze. "What? What the heck are you so quiet abou…" He went quiet as well as he saw what had gotten Sasori's attention. "I don't believe it…"

The Akatsuki members were dumbfounded as they saw a burned, beaten, and bloody Emi back up on her feet and limping over to her scythe. They could see them large amount of blood that was dripping from the wounds all over her body as well as her numerous burn marks and were in shock that was up on her feet, let alone moving. Coughing up blood, Emi bent down and picked her scythe up, slightly losing her balance as she held it in her hands.

"Master, are you believing this?" Deidara asked as he watched the neko. "There's no way in Hell that she should even be able move one limb right now, un."

Sasori didn't respond and just continued to look at Emi's feat.

The neko turned to face the her opponents and as she did, her vision began to blur and she felt lightheaded. But that didn't stop her from holding her scythe up over her shoulder as if to swing it. "I'm not…going out…like this…I am…a member…of the…Takahashi Clan…" Suddenly, after those words left Emi's mouth, the scythe fell from her hands and she fell face first to the ground, completely motionless.

Sasori picked up his cloak before leaping over to the neko's side while Deidara flew over on his owl. "Well? Is she still alive or did we literally do her in, un?"

Kneeling down and placing his hand to her neck for a sign of a pulse, Sasori eventually said. "Yeah. She's alive, but just barely." He glared at Deidara.

Laughing and shrugging his shoulders, Deidara said, "Heh, my bad Master. I'll take it a bit easier next time."

"See that you do," said Sasori as he turned his attention back to Emi. "This girl…She certainly is very interesting. Willing to still fight even after she was defeated."

Deidara crossed his arms. "Hmph, I'll admit that she's got guts. But in the end, it looks like that stubbornness and 'die hard' attitude of hers led to her downfall, un."

Sasori smirked as she picked Emi up. "Now who does that remind me of?"

The bomber shot him a dirty look. "What are you trying to say?"

"Nothing at all," said Sasori before he walked over and placed Emi on the owl. "Well, that takes care of that little nuisance. Now it's time to get back to the base."

Deidara chuckled a bit. "Must you always be in a hurry Sasori, my man? It's gonna take some time to get back so why not just enjoy the trip, un?"

"Hmph, you know I can't stand waiting and making others do the same," said Sasori as he went to pick up Emi's scythe and fold it up. "It's best if we get back there as soon as we possibly can."

Deidara rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in the air. "Whatever. Now get on and let's be on our way back, un."

Sasori nodded as he leapt up on the owl and sat cross-legged beside Emi. He took his cloak and placed it over the unconscious neko as the owl rose up into the air, giving full view to the burning forest and Deidara was in awe.

"Truly amazing," he murmured softly as he looked at the scene before him. "Say Master, didn't I say before that this place would look beautiful once it was destroyed? And 'lo and behold, it does, un. It's far better than I expected."

Sasori closed his eyes and crossed his arms. "Whatever you say brat."

Deidara gazed a bit longer at the burning forest before looking at Emi. _'And it was both she and I that caused this. Heh, she's not too bad. Though I could've done a lot better than this on my own, un.'_ "Hold on tight Master and be sure not to lose the chick!"

"Don't worry about me nor her," said Sasori as he began to tend to Emi's wounds. "You just focus on getting us back in one piece because I know how you can be on this contraption of yours."

The blonde bomber simply smirked and chuckled a bit as he sat down on the clay owl and took off higher into the sky, flying away from the forest until they were out of the red aura being given off from the flames and were flying off into the horizon of a star-filled dark blue sky.

_**~End Of Chapter 6~**_

* * *

_**~Author's Note~**_

_**And thus the battle is over! Emi put up a good fight and was still willing to keep going even after defeated, but in the end Deidara and Sasori were too much for her to handle and the Akatsuki accomplish their goal of capturing Emi! And now Deidara and Sasori are back en route to the Akatsuki base with Emi in tow! Will they make it back in one piece without any problems? Or will they run into a crazy detour that will prolong them from reaching their destination?**_

_**Find out next time! Until then my fellow readers and authors, later and happy reading!**_


	7. An Unexpected Delay

_**~Yoki Shinai Misshon~**_

_**~Chapter 7: An Unexpected Delay~**_

"Master, how's the cat-girl holding up?"

"Hmm, she's heavily injured. But she's still alive. I'm doing the best I can, but until we get back to the base, she's going to be in a real bad spot."

Deidara grumbled as he heard the puppeteer's words and turned his attention to the stars above him, admiring their beauty. It had been a few hours since his and Sasori's battle with the neko Emi Takahashi had come to an end and they were en route back to the Akatsuki base. The fight had taken its toll on Emi and left her with many injuries that Sasori was doing all in his power to attend to. The best he could manage were to clean her burns and keep her wounds closed with chakra threads, but he had no idea how much longer he could keep it up.

"I'm telling you, going after this chick had better been well worth it, un." The blonde bomber muttered as he glanced back at the injured neko with a frown. "I mean, what the hell is so great about her anyways. It's not like all the crap she could do is anything new. I've seen ones who have affinity for wind here and there. Pssh, it ain't really nothing that special."

"You know, on any other day I would be inclined to agree with you," Sasori said, which surprised Deidara slightly.

"Heh, you? Agreeing with me?" he repeated with a smirk. "Never thought I'd hear that coming from you Sasori, my man."

The puppeteer glared slightly in his direction. "Don't get used to it, brat." He turned his attention back to Emi. "As I said, I would agree with you on this matter, except there is something truly different about this girl."

"Different?" Deidara said as he raised an eyebrow and looked at his partner. "She controls an element and has an attitude problem – no different than Kakuzu. How in the heck is that quote, unquote 'different,' un?"

Sasori rolled his eyes a bit, but ignored Deidara's retort. "I can't quite put my finger on it. But it is apparent that her power is unlike most that we've encountered, and she isn't a Jinchūriki, which also astounds me."

A groan emitting from the neko caught both of the Akatsuki attention. They looked at Emi and saw her squirm a bit before going still once more.

"What the hell are you doing Master?" Deidara asked with a curt smile. "Torturing her with those things?"

"As intriguing an idea as that is, no I'm not." Sasori answered, a bit irked at the bomber's insinuation. "At this rate, she may become conscious again soon."

Groaning himself, Deidara hung his head and shook it before saying in a sarcastic fashion, "Oh, isn't that just grand, un." He held his head back up and crossed his arms. "Well, at least I can take some solace in knowing that she's knocked out for the moment and not annoying the hell out of me."

Sasori closed his eyes, getting more agitated. _'God, help me.'_ "May I remind you that we are to…"

"Bring her back alive!" Deidara spat, cutting Sasori off. "For the umpteenth time, I got it Master, alright? No need to keep beating it into my head, un."

A smirk came to the puppeteer's face. "I wouldn't if you weren't so hard-headed in the first place brat."

'_Why that…!'_ Deidara, in the blink of an eye, began to lose his temper, but before he could lash out at his partner, he heard something that caught his attention.

Opening his eyes, Sasori looked around the area. "Hmm, I wonder what that was."

"Got me." Deidara said as he looked around as well. "Sounded like an explosion of some sort, un."

The Akatsuki continued to scan the area for any trace of the loud sounds. They didn't see any signs of anyone planning sneak attacks, didn't see any attacks of any sort coming at them, or anything of the sort.

"Nothing at all." Deidara said with grit teeth. "Or maybe someone's trying to play us for some kind of fools."

Sasori remained silent until a flash crossed across the sky and the sound was heard again. He looked in the direction he and Deidara were heading in and sighed softly. "I should've known."

The bomber looked at his partner. "Huh? Known what?"

Sasori didn't respond verbally. Instead, he just simply pointed ahead of him. Confused for a moment, Deidara followed his finger until he saw more flashes on the horizon, along with a lightning bolt, and the explosion again.

"Oh, a thunderstorm." Deidara muttered. "And wouldn't you know it, we're flying right in the same direction its coming from."

Sasori felt a single raindrop land on his head and narrowed his eyes. "Deidara, don't you even think of trying to fly through that."

A snicker came from the blonde as he looked at Sasori from the corner of his eye. "What's the matter Sasori, my man? Afraid of getting a little wet?"

"For your information brat," Sasori answered, doing his best to remain calm. "I'd rather my scrolls didn't get wet, nor our passenger here. And besides, last time I checked, this clay contraption of yours doesn't handle very well in the rain, now does it?"

"Look Master, the only reason we almost, _almost, _got hit by that lightning bolt last time was because of that sudden change in the wind, un." Deidara said as he moved his hair out of his face. "We wouldn't have even been an inch close to it had that not happened."

"Hmph, well remember that we have cargo with us this time." Sasori said before going back to concentrating on healing Emi.

That caught Deidara's attention and he once again groaned. He knew that he and Sasori couldn't afford to let anything more happen to the neko that had already happened. "Alright fine," he said, finally giving in. "We'll land, find shelter, and wait until the storm passes over before continuing on."

"Heh, good boy," said Sasori with a chuckle. "You actually can think with your head sometimes."

"Man, whatever," Deidara scoffed before looking back at the oncoming storm as more raindrops fell. "Hmm, you know, it doesn't even look that bad. I bet that it'll pass by quicker than we think, un."

* * *

_**~One Hour Later~**_

"What was it you said earlier about this storm passing quick?"

"Okay, I was wrong. Sue me."

"Just make sure you don't drop her."

Deidara grit his teeth in annoyance. After landing on the ground, Deidara and Sasori were walking alongside a river had been relegated to finding a place to wait out the storm. And, unfortunate for him, Deidara had to carry the motionless Emi as Sasori walked alongside him, keeping his chakra threads in place. And to make matters worse for the Akatsuki members, the thunderstorm had arrived in full force, along with very heavy rain.

"I've got to learn how to use chakra threads one day un," said Deidara as he adjusted Emi on his back, who was covered with his cloak. "That way, you can be in my shoes Master."

The red-haired puppeteer smirked before glancing up at the rain. "Looks like this isn't going to let up any time soon."

"What was your first clue?" Deidara asked.

"You really are starting to push the boundaries of being a brat and a smart-ass," Sasori commented, slightly irked at his partner. "Look, I'm gonna scout around and see if there's any place we go to get out of this."

Deidara snapped his head right at Sasori. "Whoa whoa whoa, what the hell do you expect me to do?"

"Simple," said Sasori as he pointed over to a large tree nearby. "Take the neko with you and wait under that tree for me to return. It's large enough to block out most of the rain so neither of you get wet." He undid his chakra threads. "And be sure to keep all of her wounds covered as well."

"Hold on a sec!" Deidara half-yelled as Sasori turned his back to him. "Don't I even have a say in this?"

"Not really."

With that being said, Sasori held his cloak closer around him before leaping into the tree and beginning to leap from branch to branch, away from Deidara. "Damn him!" the bomber cursed as he watched his partner leave. "I hate it when he pulls crap like this, un!" He looked over his shoulder at the unconscious Emi and narrowed his eyes. "Are you really worth all this hell?"

She naturally didn't respond, causing Deidara to grumble as he walked over to the tree, letting out a sigh of relief as he no longer felt his body being pelted with raindrop after raindrop. "Ah, finally." He maneuvered Emi off of his back and laid her horizontally in front of him as he leaned his back up against the trunk and placing her head on his lap. "Geez, if it weren't for that damn order to bring this chick back in one piece, I'd let her sleep with the fishes in that river, un."

He looked down at her and observed her facial features and frowned. "I cannot believe a little girl like this took me to my limit. And Master as well. Hmm, just who the hell is this girl?"

Emi stirred a little bit in Deidara's lap, a pained look coming to her face. It was than that Deidara remembered what Sasori had told him. "Oh right." He wrapped his cloak around her tighter and made sure to keep enough pressure on her wounds. _'Being a doctor is certainly not my forte, un. Master better hurry and get back here.'_

A soft groan came from Emi, which knocked Deidara out of his thoughts and he looked back down at her. He saw that her stirring had stopped and she once again went still. "Looks like she's relaxed again. Damn it, me being reduced to this. Why must I endure this torture, un?"

After ranting a bit more for a few minutes, Deidara glanced at the rain pouring down and became slightly mesmerized by it. "Quite the beautiful sight, that is." He looked down at the neko once more and for the first time, got a good look at her. "Huh, and I got to admit, she's a looker. At least for her age, that is, un." A dark smirk came to his face. "I sure hope that whatever it is Lord Pein and Konan have planned for her doesn't work. That way, I'm free to mess this face up for humiliating me the way she did."

"Having fun talking to yourself?"

Deidara chuckled as he closes his eyes. "You sure did take your time. What's your excuse?" Looking up into the large tree behind him, Deidara saw Sasori knelt on one of the branches.

"No excuse needed. This is a large open area, you know," Sasori responded calmly. "And after a bit of time searching, I've come across a suitable place where we can wait out the storm."

"About time," Deidara said as he gathered Emi in his arms and stood up. "It was getting rather boring sitting here with a knocked out cat, un."

"I bet it was," said Sasori before leaping out of the tree beside Deidara and uncovered the cloak, observing Emi's body. "It would seem you did a good job keeping her wounds clean and covered." He created his chakra threads once again closed her cuts with them. "At least I can depend on you sometimes."

Deidara rolled his eyes. "Give me a break Sasori, my man, and give me some credit."

"Hmm, I'll take that into consideration," Sasori said as he once again adjusted his own cloak. "Now then, let's be on our way, shall we?"

"Hmph, lead the way."

Sasori began to walk and Deidara followed, getting a better and tighter grip on Emi because he had a feeling they would be in for a lengthy walk to where Sasori was leading them, and all the while thunder and lightning rumbled and flashed as the storm continued to rage.

_**~End Of Chapter 7~**_

* * *

_**~Author's Note~**_

_**It would seem that Deidara and Sasori's trip back to their base was delayed big time by a vicious thunderstorm! After being forced to land and seek shelter, it would seem that Sasori has found a good place!**_

_**And, despite being fully against doing so, Deidara had no choice but to keep Emi warm, safe, and secure while Sasori searched for a salvation out of the storm! Hmm, wonder if that little interaction he had with her will lead to something else! Also, wonder what her reaction would have been if she were awake!**_

_**But now the three of them are heading for the shelter Sasori found! Will they be able to make it there and get out of the storm? Or, like while they were en route back to the base, will they run into another delay and be stuck in the rain much longer than they already have?**_

_**Find out next time! Until then, my fellow readers and authors, later and happy reading!**_


	8. Going From Bad To Worse

_**~Yoki Shinai Misshon~**_

_**~Chapter 8: Going From Bad To Worse~**_

The rain continued to descend upon the earth and if possible, Deidara was starting to get even more fed up with each and every step he and Sasori took as they headed to the place the puppeteer had found as shelter to wait out the storm.

"Damn it, this is getting very irritating," Deidara grumbled as he maneuvered Emi to adjust to her weight.

A small smirk appeared on Sasori's face. "What's the problem? Can't handle a little stroll through the woods?"

"No…that's not the problem…" Deidara answered in a low growl as he looked over at his partner. "The problem is that I've just about had it up to here with toting around this freaking nuisance around, un!"

"Heh, come now Deidara," Sasori chuckled. "It can surely be a lot worse than this."

The bomber looked over to his partner with a combined look of confusion and irritation. "Name one. Name just one scenario that can possibly come close to being worse than this."

"Well, let's be honest…" Sasori began as he gave his full attention to Deidara. "…_I_ could be the one carrying her in the rain."

The puppeteer's words irked Deidara almost to the point of no return and the blonde's temper got the better of him as he let out a frustrated yell. "Well then, let's put that to the test! You carry her for a bit and see how it makes you feel, un!"

A grin came to Sasori's face. "Interesting offer, but I decline. First of all, I have my hands fully keeping my chakra threads in place." His grin grew slight bigger. "And second, it's a lot more entertaining seeing you in this state of mind."

Deidara grit his teeth hard. "Well, I'm _so glad_ that I'm able to bring a smile to your face Master."

The sound of a groan caught both of the males' attention. Looking at the source of the sound, Emi, they saw that she was once again wincing and stirring a bit in her unconscious state. "Hmm, we need to get her out of this rain as quickly as possible," Sasori commented. "It's bad enough we roughed her up as bad as we did. We don't want her to catch a cold or something on top of that and with the way this storm is going, that could very well happen."

Deidara nodded his head in response. "Speaking of which, how much further away is this shelter you found, un? We've been walking for quite a bit. I figured it was a lot closer than this. And what exactly is it? A cave?"

"It's not much further," Sasori answered before closing his eyes and taking a soft breath. "And no, it's not a cave smart-aleck. It's actually a cottage, an abandoned one that is still in good shape. It will serve us well for waiting out this storm."

"No kidding?" Deidara asked before a smirk came to his face. "Heh, sounds good to me, un. I can not only get out of this storm and chill out, but also get this monkey off my back, literally."

Sasori shook his head at the comment as he continued to keep Emi's wounds closed as best as he could and continued on with Deidara.

* * *

Lightning flashed across the sky many times and each time it did, the thunder rumbled and roared louder and louder each time. It became evident that the storm was getting more intense with each passing second.

"This could be bad," said Sasori as he looked up at the sky.

"You don't say," Deidara said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. "And look at this, as if things can't get any better, un."

Sasori looked ahead to see what his partner was referring to and another sigh came from him. The road to the cottage had brought them to a river which to the best of Sasori's recollection, was not the same as when he first saw it. Earlier, the river was calm, even in the rain. But as a result of the storm getting worse, the river had begun to rage. The puppet master looked over to the side where he thought the rope bridge he crossed would be, but it would appear that the huge waves of water had washed it away, making crossing it a big problem.

"Looks like we got a bit of a roadblock in the way," Deidara said with a bit of a laugh.

"Don't even begin with your wisecracks," Sasori said as he closed his eyes in thought. "Instead, think of a way we can get across."

No sooner did those words leave Sasori's mouth did another flash of lightning go across the sky, only this time it was followed by a lightning bolt that struck one of the nearby large trees near the Akatsuki.

"Whoa!" Deidara exclaimed before laughing. "Heh, that was a close one!"

Sasori acknowledged that the bomber was right before noticing something else. "Indeed, and may I suggest that we get out of the way."

A look of confusion came to the blonde's face. "Get out of the way? What're you…?" Deidara never finished his statement as a crackling sound was heard even over the thundering and heavy winds. Narrowing his eyes, Deidara sighed before turning his head around and muttering, "Can't anything go right today?"

"Apparently not," Sasori answered. "Now let's move it."

Deidara nodded and, together with Sasori and keeping a tight hold on Emi, ran down the direction they had walked from. As it turns out, the tree that was struck by lightning was hit in the trunk, cutting deep into it as a result. Adding onto that was the heavy winds that were blowing and they were strong enough to push the tree over and, as luck would have it, it fell over onto the lake and forming a bridge, sending large waves of water going in opposite directions.

After putting a large distance between them and the falling tree, Deidara and Sasori stopped their stride and looked back. "Heh, looks like we didn't need to run after all, un," said Deidara with his usual smirk.

"Better to be safe rather than sorry," said Sasori. "And look, we now have a way to get to the other side. Very fortunate."

"You can say that again Sasori, my man," Deidara said as he once again adjusted the knocked out neko on his back. "This is _really _starting to annoy me, un."

Sasori couldn't help but grin as he was finding all kinds of amusement in his partner's plight. "Like you aren't already. Come on, let's go."

* * *

"I know that impatience is your thing Master, but I cannot wait until we get to that cottage, un."

"So you finally start to see my way of thinking."

Deidara scoffed at his partner's words. The two of them were approaching the end of the tree, thus being closer to reaching their destination. _'Man what a pain this has been, un. But at least we're almost there and this Hell is coming to an end.'_

Sasori reached the end of the tree first and leapt off to the ground below, turning to look up at Deidara. "Alright, now just come down here and try not to mess that up."

"Master, why must you assume things?" Deidara asked, holding back a small laugh. "You do know what happens when you assume right?"

Sasori narrowed his eyes a bit at the bomber. "Watch it brat."

A chuckle escaped Deidara's mouth and just as he was going to leap off the tree, the wind suddenly kicked up out of nowhere. "Whoa!" he exclaimed as he lost his balance.

Sasori's eyes widened slightly as he saw Emi beginning to fall off of Deidara's back. "Deidara! The girl!"

But it was too late. Before either one of them knew it, Deidara lost his grip on Emi and she plummeted into the water and Sasori's chakra threads came apart as a result. "Damn it…" the puppet master cursed under his breath

'_Shit!'_ Deidara thought frantically before throwing caution to the wind and leaping into the water and barely managing to grab a hold of the tip of Emi's tail, keeping her from being swept away in the river and holding onto one of the branches of the tree. "That was a little too close for comfort, un…"

"Hmm…That was some quick thinking on your part," said Sasori as he walked over to the edge of the land and squatted down. "And what do you know, you got to go for swim, and with a female on top of that."

Deidara growled at his partner while doing his best to keep himself and Emi from going down the river. "Give me a break Master! Here, take the girl, un!" He held Emi's tail out to Sasori. "Quick before she drowns!"

Sasori chuckled a bit before reaching for Emi's tail. "Is that concern I hear Deidara?" he asked as he pulled the neko out of the water.

"Concern!? Yeah right!" Deidara said as he pulled himself up back onto the tree and then leapt off of it beside Sasori. "I honestly couldn't give two damns about what happens to her! I'm just remembering our mission to get her back in one piece that's all, un!"

"Yes, of course you were," said the puppeteer as he looked over Emi's body, seeing that remarkably, no further damage had been done to her because of the fall. "We were lucky. That could have been a lot worse. And it's a surprise that a dip in the water wasn't enough to wake her up. Guess she lost a lot more blood than we expected." He looked over at Deidara. "It looks like you making hasty choices came in handy for once."

The blonde rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Whatever you say…." A thought suddenly came to him. _'Wait a sec…That blast of wind back there…She controls wind…I wonder…'_

Sasori turned his attention back to Emi and saw that she was wincing in pain because of her wounds reopening and the water was seeping into them. Holding his hand out to her and causing multiple chakra threads to protrude from his fingers, he put them back into place by stitching up her wounds. "There. Now hopefully we can get to the cottage without any other interruptions."

"Don't tell me I have to carry her again…" Deidara groaned, although he knew the answer to his question.

"Well I obviously can't brat," said Sasori as he stood up. "Now, get to it so we can get going. I'm tired of waiting to get out of this storm."

Deidara threw his arms up in defeat. "Ugh, fine fine!" He bent down and picked Emi up in his arms. "This is torture, I'm telling you…"

Taking a page out of Deidara's book, Sasori smirked in a fashion that the bomber was known for. "You'll be alright. Now come, our shelter is just up the road."

"I could almost swear that you said that earlier…" Deidara muttered under his breath.

"What was that Deidara?" Sasori asked, hearing what his partner said.

"Not a thing," the bomber replied. "Well then, lead the way Master."

The puppeteer hmphed before walking a few steps in front of Deidara, placing his hand on his shoulder so that his threads were still attached to Emi. "By the way, I noticed that you're holding the cat-girl in a different…almost affectionate way."

"Don't even!" Deidara spat. "Only reason I'm holding her like this is because I'm giving my back a much needed break, un!"

"Heh, of course you are," Sasori said simply before focusing on the road in front of them.

Deidara grumbled as he followed behind Sasori. _'Affection, my ass! What a joke!'_ He looked down at Emi and frowned upon her. "Girl, you had better pray to whoever it is you pray to very loudly so that they hear you because I swear, if you aren't worth all this, you're going to regret it, un."

The neko remained motionless and obviously didn't respond. However, Deidara couldn't help but think that somehow the neko had heard him loud and clear and from what he learned about her from their battle, she was laughing at him and itching to make him eat his own words. "Yeah, laugh it up while you can," he said as a dark smirk came to his face. "Because in the end, I'll have the last laugh un."

_**~End Of Chapter 8~**_

* * *

_**~Author's Note~**_

_**Wow! Deidara and Sasori ran into quite a few hassles on their way to their shelter to wait out the storm! As if the storm wasn't bad enough! And after surviving a few more near-death experiences, they managed to also keep Emi safe! And Sasori took note of the different way Deidara's carrying Emi! Wonder how the neko would respond to that! Speaking of which, Deidara also noticed that maybe Emi could have had something to do with the gust of wind that sent them into water!**_

_**But now, with their destination in their sights and with all major dangers out of their way, it would seem that Deidara and Sasori can finally rest and regroup as they wait for the storm to pass! …On second thought, are they out of the woods yet? Will Emi awaken before or after they reach the cottage? And what will happen when she finally does?**_

_**Find out next time! Until then, my fellow readers and authors, later and happy reading!**_


	9. Safe Haven

_**~Yoki Shinai Misshon~**_

_**~Chapter 9: Safe Haven~**_

"So, this is the place?"

"Of course. What was your first clue?"

"Man master, can you give me one straight answer without getting all smart-alecky with me, un?"

"I could. I just simply choose not to."

Deidara rolled his eyes at his partner's response. After a long trip through the rain that saw him, Sasori, and their unconscious target Emi avoid numerous dangers, they had finally arrived at their destination – the cottage that Sasori had found. Despite being abandoned, it was still in very good condition, as evidenced by it still standing in the extreme and wild storm that was raging over the land, but the smugness of Deidara got the better of him.

"Hmm, not too shabby as far as cabins go. Could be better, un."

Sasori closed his eyes and sighed softly before opening them back halfway and glaring a bit at Deidara. "My apologies for not finding one that would suit your fancy better. But in this situation, beggers can't be choosers."

"Who said that I was begging in the first place?" Deidara scoffed as he looked up into the sky, his face being pelted with raindrops. "Damn it, this is never going to let up…" he grumbled. "And from the looks of things, we can't expect it do so any time soon, un."

A small smirk appeared on Sasori's face as he looked over at his partner. "Well, how's that for ironic. It wasn't too long ago when you were the one that wasn't bothered by this storm at all. Now listen to you - you can't stop complaining about it."

"That was then and this is now! Things change!" Deidara yelled, gritting his teeth afterwards and growling lowly which caused Sasori to chuckle softly.

"I swear, I could never get tired of this."

"Man, whatever!" the blonde bomber retorted, getting fed up with his companion's heckling. "Now, if you're done being a complete pain Master, let's get in there and out of the rain already, un."

"But of course," said the puppeteer as he stood to the side. "Go ahead. The door's unlocked."

"Seriously? Was it like that when you found it?" Deidara asked with a bit of a laugh as he and Sasori went to the front door. "Saves us the trouble of having to get this thing open then."

"Indeed. In fact, it's a good thing I was the one to find it. Had it been you and if it were locked, you wouldn't have wasted any time in blowing it up."

"Heh, you know me well Sasori, my man," Deidara grinned as he put his hand on the knob, turned it, and pushed the door open. "After you."

"On the contrary, after _you,_" Sasori corrected. "Need I remind you that you're carrying cargo that we can't afford to be in any worse shape than it already is?"

Deidara looked over his shoulder and let out a groan of disgust as his eyes fell on the knocked out Emi, whose head was draped over his shoulder. "Don't freaking remind me."

A pained moan followed by a cough from the neko grabbed both of the Akatsuki's attention. "Quickly. She needs to be out of this weather before something else happens," Sasori said as he used his free hand to usher Deidara into the cabin.

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say. Hmph, wouldn't break my heart if we left her out here."

"Deidara…" Sasori began in a menacing tone, which caused Deidara to chuckle a bit at the irritation and anger in the puppeteer's voice.

"Heh, just kidding Master. It was just a joke, un."

"Well excuse me for not laughing," Sasori said as he and Deidara entered the cottage and closed the door behind him. "Ah, finally out of the storm."

"You can say that again," said Deidara as he looked around the cottage and smirked. "And I retract my previous statement. This is some nice digs, un."

True to Sasori's word, the cottage was in excellent condition even on the inside. A living room, kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms all of which had plenty of room – the place had all the works.

"Heh, the only way this can be better is if a lifetime supply of food came along with this joint," Deidara said as he walked over to a nearby couch in the living room.

"If only we were that lucky. There's food here but not in the quantity you want," Sasori said, following his partner. "This spot will do. You can lay her down now."

A deep breath of relief came from the blonde bomber no sooner did Sasori finish his sentence. "Thank. God. That's all I have to say," he said as he positioned himself to let Emi down.

"Gently, may I add…" Sasori said with a glare.

"Come on Sasori, my man. Give me a break already," Deidara said in annoyance. "I heard you past millionth times when it came to the preservation and safety of this girl, un."

"Hmph, well that's something I'm glad I can take some kind of solace in knowing," said Sasori as he had a seat on the couch. "Now lay her down across my lap gent…"

"I know, I know – gently, gently! I got it!" Deidara grumbled a few obscenities under his breath as he turned his back to the couch and as best as he could, slid Emi off of his back and down onto the couch with her head on his partner's lap. "Oh man, finally…" the bomber plopped down and the floor and leaned his back against the couch. "Finally got that damn monkey off my back…or in this case, that damn cat…"

"Quit your complaining and do something that could actually be of some help," Sasori interjected while observing Emi. "Like going to get some towels so we can not only dry her but ourselves as well."

Deidara looked back at the puppet master with a irritated eyebrow raised. "And why, pray tell, can't _you _go get them? You're the impatient one after all and I figured that you would want to get that taken care of as soon as we got here, un."

"Simple, because I have a more important issue to attend to right here," Sasori answered, motioning to his chakra threads. "Now, would you go and get the towels? And while you're at it, check and see if there's a first-aid kit anywhere in here. It could be very helpful to catgirl's recovery."

Deidara's eyes twitched and he was about to retort tenfold at Sasori when he heard another pained groan come from Emi. He had heard numerous of them come from the neko the whole walk to their safe haven and he had just about had enough of it. "You know what? Fine!" he said as he stood up to his feet and removed his drenched cloak, throwing it over to the side of the couch. "One thing that'll come out of this is that it will _finally _shut her up and put an end to all her damn moaning."

Sasori watched as his partner left the room and he couldn't help but smirk. _'Heh, this girl has gotten under his skin as bad as I've ever seen. I've never seen him this riled up about anyone, except maybe Itachi.'_ He looked down at the neko on his lap and chuckled. _'Quite the interesting one you are to have gotten Deidara in that state of mind.'_

* * *

_**~One Hour Later~**_

Deidara was sitting at the table in the kitchen and looking out one of the nearby windows at the rain. He had gotten all the supplies that Sasori had asked for and the puppeteer was hard at work at tending to Emi's wounds while Deidara himself found the rest and relaxation time he had been craving for a while now.

'_Such beauty and magnificence,'_ he thought as he watched the numerous drops of rain hit the window and turn into small puddles. _'Just like my works of art, un'_

"Well it would seem you found something to keep you occupied. It wasn't like you could've given me a hand or anything."

Deidara's smug look came to his face. "You looked so focused and into what you were doing that I didn't have the heart to interrupt you Sasori, my man."

"You're too kind," Sasori said sarcastically as he had a seat at the table across from his partner. "That sure did take a while, longer than I thought it would. But with all the injuries she sustained, I shouldn't be all that surprised."

Deidara crossed his arms and closed his eyes as he leaned back in his seat. "So how's she holding up?"

"All her wounds are cleaned and properly taken care of. She should be just fine," Sasori answered. "She's still in her unconscious state and there's no telling how much longer she'll be that way."

"Hmm, I see," said Deidara as he opened his eyes and looked at the rain once more. "Now all that's left is for the rain to stop so we can get back. Heh, it would be marvelous if she were out the entire time, un."

Sasori shook his head at his partner's snide comment and joined him in looking out the window at the rain. The both of them sat in silence for a few moments before Deidara stood up and made his way into the living room so that he could see Emi for himself and he frowned upon seeing her bandaged up, dried off, and covered with a blanket.

"Hmm? Is there something that's got your attention?" Sasori asked.

"No. She just looks too damn peaceful for my taste," Deidara spat.

"Come now Deidara, are you sure that it's just not a bit of a bruised ego that's got you so fired up?" Sasori asked. "The girl did hold her own against you and it took me stepping in to help bring her down."

Deidara's frown hardened and he clenched his fists. "You just had to remind me of that little detail, didn't you Master?" He walked up closer to Emi and got literally face-to-face with her. "How easy it would be just to blow her to Hell right now and not even have to worry about her anymore."

"Unfortunately that wouldn't sit well with Lord Pain, now would it?"

Grunting as he knew his partner was right, Deidara pulled away from the neko and flipped his hair a bit. "It's whatever really. I sure do hope whatever he has planned for her fails so that we can do away with the skeeze."

"That remains to be seen," said Sasori as he looked over at Deidara. "And until that time, we are to make sure nothing happens to the girl, got it?"

The bomber looked back at his partner with an exasperated look on his face. "Seriously, how many times are you going to drill info into my head that I already know?"

Sasori smirked as he turned back around in his seat. "Wasn't intentional this time. Just a reminder."

'_Reminder, my ass!'_ Deidara thought to himself as he glared a hole at the back of his partner's head.

"Now then, how about giving the girl some time to rest? Something tells me that if she were to wake up and you were right in her face, we'd be right back at square one."

Knowing that Sasori had a good point, Deidara shot Emi one last evil look before walking towards the kitchen again. "And we wouldn't want that, now would we?" He sat back down in his seat and rejoined Sasori in looking out at the rain. "Well, may as well get comfortable Master, seeing as how we could be here for a while, un."

Sasori nodded his head and he and Deidara began to converse about whatever things came to mind, specifically their differing artist opinions on the rain.

* * *

Meanwhile in the living room and unbeknownst to the Akatsuki members, Emi turned her head from side to side a few times in her unconscious state and her once motionless hands slowly formed into tightly clenched fists.

_**~End Of Chapter 9~**_

* * *

_**~Author's Note~**_

_**At long last Deidara and Sasori have gotten themselves and Emi out of the raging storm and can finally take refuge until it's over! And it looks like Emi will make a full recovery thanks to Sasori's medical expertise! Now all that's left for the Akatsuki is for the storm to end so they can be back on their way to their base!**_

_**But what's this? Something seems to be going on with Emi as she is beginning to have movement from her body! What is it that's causing her to react the way she is? Does it have something to do with her mysterious power? Or could it mean that she's merely moments away from waking up? And if so, how are Deidara and Sasori going to react to a potentially infuriated neko that may be looking for another shot at them?**_

_**Find out next time! Until then my fellow readers and authors, later and happy reading!**_

_**P.S. – Happy New Year everyone!**_


	10. Nightmare & Awakening

_**~Yoki Shinai Misshon~**_

_**~Chapter 10: Nightmare & Awakening~**_

"_Katsu!" _

_An enormous explosion sounded out after that word was yelled out by the familiar voice of Deidara and a shrill, pained scream filled the mountainous region that the explosion went off in. Mere seconds later, a figure crashed spine first into the side of a mountain so hard that it went flying completely through the structure, hitting various sharp points of the cracking stone and getting deeply slashed as a result. Coming out the other side of the mountain, the figure was revealed to be Emi and she smashed into the ground in a crumpled heap, her clothes badly ripped and burned as well as bleeding profusely from various wounds all over her body. _

"_Damn it…" she coughed, blood coming from her mouth. "Those bastards…are really starting to piss me off…" _

"_Heh heh, now that's what I call one beautiful sight," Deidara smirked as he watched the fiery remains of his bomb. "Wouldn't you agree Master?" _

_Sasori sighed softly in an agitated fashion before crossing his arms and looking over at his partner. "Must you always take your sweet time and toy around with every single one of our targets? It would be much more efficient if you just got it over and done with from the get go." _

_A laugh came from the bomber as he turned his attention to Sasori. "That's too boring for my taste Master. I mean, where's the fun in that?" _

_Shaking his head, Sasori opened his eyes halfway and gave an irritated look at Deidara. "Your penchant for taking things slow is something I'll never understand. Now if you're done wasting time, let's go finish the job." _

"_But what about what Lord Pain said and what you've been telling me for what seems like every other second since we first left?" Deidara asked, smirking slightly. "You know, the part about making sure no harm comes her way?" _

"_All that went out the window the moment she decided to run away from us and, as a result, really ticked me off," Sasori replied as he began to walk towards the damaged mountain. _

"_Alright. Well if that's the case, what do we tell Lord Pain, pray tell?" Deidara asked. _

"_We'll just report to Lord Pain and the others that an…unfortunate accident befell our target. Now then, you coming or not?" _

"_Heh, ain't got to tell me twice, un." _

_With that said, the bomber began to follow his partner, a dark smile on his face. The Akatsuki approached the injured Emi and they couldn't help but laugh a bit as they saw her struggling as hard as she could just to get back up to her feet. _

"_Man, this is pathetic," Deidara said as he knelt down and leaned his head over Emi, taking in and savoring the sight of her mangled body. "It's almost unbelievable to think that you were actually worth taking, un." _

_The neko looked over and an angry hiss came from her as she saw her attackers. "Go screw yourselves…" _

_Sasori shook his head before closing his eyes. "One thing I'm going to be so grateful for is that I'm no longer going to have to put up with that smart mouth of yours." He turned his head to Deidara and glared slightly at him as he opened his eyes back. "One's bad enough." _

_Ignoring his partner's comment, Deidara continued to look down upon Emi and mockingly trace his finger from her cheek down to her chin, earning an angry and pained growl from her. "Heh, no need to be angry at me, un. You brought all of this upon yourself." _

_Emi coughed up a bit of blood as she gave Deidara a look of pure, unadulterated hate as she gingerly tried to get to a standing position. _

"_Tsk tsk tsk, look at you," Deidara continued, holding back a laugh. "What a freaking joke. You can't even get to your knees, let alone stand up completely." He looked over at Sasori. "Perhaps my scanner was off the whole time Master. No way can a piece of trash like this possibly be who we were supposed to be after. Heh, she must've just been a small blip on the radar." _

_Sasori nodded his head. "I agree. And you know what happens to those who are deemed as worthless, such as she." _

'Worthless...?'_ That one word began to play over and over again in Emi's mind. '_Worthless…? Worthless…!?'

"_I'M NOT WORTHLESS!" _

_In a rage and pushing her pain aside, Emi threw herself at the both of them only to be met with a hard knee to her gut from Deidara. Doubling over and coughing up blood, Emi lay near-motionless on the bomber's knee. _

"_Come on, did you seriously think that would work?" he taunted. "Especially in your condition?" _

_More blood came from the neko as she coughed again and before she could say anything, Sasori's voice rang out. _

"_Just hurry up and finish her already. Or am I going to have to do it for you brat?" _

"_Oh no," Deidara interjected with a dark smile as he took out one of Emi's kunai from her singed packet. "This one's mine. And I'm going to savor and enjoy this, un." _

_Rolling his eyes, Sasori crossed his arms and turned away. "Very well. But don't keep me waiting until next year." _

_Scoffing at his partner's comment, Deidara ran the tip of the blade across Emi's neck in a teasing fashion, licking his lips in anticipation. "So, are any last words going to come out of that smart-ass mouth of yours before I shut it permanently?" He never even gave her a chance to answer. "No? Alright. You can't say I didn't ask beforehand, un." _

_Deidara grinned as he gripped her hair tightly and lifted her head off of his knee before placing his foot down. Blood continued to flow from Emi's mouth and her vision started to become hazy. Nonetheless, not wanting to go down without a fight, she weakly clenched her fist and threw a slow punch that Deidara easily dodged. _

"_Oh please," he laughed. "Don't even attempt to fight the inevitable, un." _

_Coughing again, Emi's arm went limp and she then began to see both double and red as her vision go hazier and the blood that was coming from her forehead began to go into her eyes. _'So, this is how it's going to end for me huh…? At the hands of this bastard…? Damn…What a messed up way to go out…'

_Deidara readjusted the kunai in his hand before pulling it back and tightening his grip on the neko's hair. "Hope you enjoy it down in Hell. Let everyone else I sent there know that I send them my best regards." _

_The last thing Emi saw and felt was the sinister look on Deidara's face and the feeling of the kunai plunging deep into the center of her neck._

* * *

Emi's eyes shot open as she screamed out and her body launched itself into a seated position, panicked and heavy breaths coming from her and sweat dripping from her brow. Then suddenly, she felt a stinging pain all over her body and she yet out a yelp before falling back to her laying position, clutching the sides of her body and closing her eyes tightly.

"W-What the hell…? What's going on…? My body feels like it got ran over or something…"

The neko's eyes widened as she remembered the other half of her dream – the Akatsuki. She shot up again, ignoring the thundering pain she was in, and looked around for any sign of them, her eyes turning to small slits. _'Where the hell are they? No way would they go through all that trouble of finding and fighting me to just up and disappear. They're here somewhere, I just know it.'_

She tried again to move but winced. _'Those bastards must've really done a number on me to have put me in this condition…And they must've taken me here…'_

"Speaking of which…" she said out loud as she looked around once again. "Where exactly is here...? And…I got new clothes on...? Where are mine...? And where's my scythe...? What's going on...?"

While looking around for her belongings and taking note of the cottage she was in, Emi saw a flash of lightning light up the entire cabin and he eyes immediately shot over to one of the windows and she saw that it was raining and she shuddered a bit. "Good thing I'm in here and not out there in that…" A deep breath came from her as she laid back down on the couch, memories of her dream coming back to her. _'That…That was all a dream…? No, not a dream…more like a nightmare…Damn…' _

She placed her hands over her eyes before running them down her face, letting out a groan. "How in the heck did this night turn into a freaking death chase and a fight for my life…? And just what do those Akatsuki want with me…?"

"That depends on what you have to give, un."

Jumping a bit from her position on the couch, Emi turned to the direction of the familiar voice and grit her teeth in anger as her eyes burned with fury. Sitting in a nearby chair, smug face and all, was Deidara. "Have a nice sleep?"

"What the hell are you doing here?" Emi hissed as she slowly sat up, getting ready for anything that the bomber would try.

"What do you think?" he answered as he crossed his arms and legs. "Keeping an eye on you. Of course, I'd prefer it if you were out there drowning in the storm but orders are orders, un."

The neko clenched both of her fists tightly as she turned her head away from him. _'Just when I thought this couldn't get any worse…'_

"Heh, what's the problem?" Deidara continued with a laugh, trying to get a reaction from her. "Cat got your tongue?"

Emi's ears flinched a few times as she began to feel her anger rising. If there was one thing she couldn't stand it was feline puns. _'He is seriously starting to piss me off…!' _

Deidara stood up and flipped his hair back as he walked over and stood right in front of her. "Not surprised, to tell you the truth. I mean hell, if I got my ass kicked as badly as you did, I'd be ashamed to show my face let alone talk, un."

Something snapped inside of Emi after she head Deidara's last comment. Since her nightmare, and since her very first encounter with him, she had grown to despise the blonde Akatsuki member with a passion. The combination of her memories of being chased down by the Akatsuki like a thief at market, defeated in battle by him and Sasori, being beaten again in her nightmare, and now being belittled by him became too much for the neko to handle.

"You bastard!" she yelled at the top of her lungs as she lunged herself at him. "I'll rip your damn head off!"

The sudden movement was a bad move on Emi's part and Deidara knew it as his smirk grew and he made no attempt to avoid her attack; he didn't need to. Just as she was fingertips away from him, Emi let out a yelp of pain and dropped down to the wood floor, gripping at her sides in pain.

"I could've told you that would happen," Deidara chuckled as he looked down at the pained neko. "What were you expecting, that those wounds would be gone in the blink of an eye?"

Emi felt her eyes water a bit from the pain she was in and she began to take deep breaths in an attempt to relieve herself of the stinging sensation going throughout her body.

"Heh, need some help?" Deidara asked mockingly as he found amusement in the neko's position.

"You…can kiss…my ass…!" Emi spat as she turned around gingerly and started to use the couch to help herself up.

"Truly the feisty one, un." Deidara said before hearing a door open, followed by a voice.

"What is all the racket? Can't even get some rest these days."

"Don't even have patience when it comes to resting, do you Master?" Deidara joked as he looked to see the red-haired puppet master exit one of the bedrooms. "And to answer your question, take a wild guess."

Sasori, who wasn't wearing his cloak, looked over and saw Emi slowly but surely getting back to a vertical base. "It would seem she finally woke up." Frowning a bit as he saw her condition, he looked right back at Deidara. "What did you do brat?"

Deidara grinned as he met his partner's gaze. "As much as I would like to take credit for this, I can't because I did nothing, un. She put herself in this situation."

Sasori rolled his eyes as he walked over to stand beside the blonde bomber. "Well, aren't you going to be of assistance and help?"

"I offered to but she said no," Deidara answered as he and Sasori watched Emi finally make it to her feet. "Look at that, she didn't need help after all. Though, in my opinion, she looked much better on the floor, un."

Emi looked over at the both of them and her eyes once again burned into Deidara. "Do either of you ever shut the hell up!?" she painfully yelled as she began to stumble past them.

"Trying to escape? It won't work, I'm afraid," said Sasori as he closed his eyes, a bit of a smirk coming to his face. "It's quite a mess out there and it wouldn't be in your best interest to go out there at this point and time."

"Can it shorty…! I'm not that stupid…!" said the neko angrily as she continued to walk, feeling blood begin to spill through her fingers on the sides of her body. "And as for where I'm going, not that it's any business of either of you, it's to not be in the same room as you pieces of trash…!"

"My, isn't that the pot calling the kettle black!" Deidara laughed.

Sasori shook his head as he spoke again to Emi. "Couldn't help but notice that some of your cuts opened up again."

"I don't need any help from you…!" Emi shouted, cutting Sasori off.

"If you would've let me finish I wasn't going to offer to help you," Sasori said, turning one edge of his lips upwards. "Though allow me to say 'You're welcome' for the first clean up job I did on you as well as the clean and dry clothes. Now then, what I was going to say was if you wanted to fix yourself up the first-aid kit is in the bathroom. The door to your right, actually."

Emi frowned at Sasori's words as she looked to the side, saw the open bathroom door, and began to make her way towards it.

"Don't misunderstand our kindness," Sasori continued as he turned around and looked at her. "Only reason for it is that you have to be brought back in the best condition possible. We can't afford to let anything else happen to you."

Entering the bathroom, Emi looked back at Sasori and grit her teeth at him. "If this is your idea of kindness, you must be seriously messed up in the head…"

"Hmm, I do come across as that way sometimes," Sasori answered.

"A lot of the times," Deidara added with a grin before looking at Emi. "Don't take all day in there and try not to mess yourself up even more than you already are."

That comment once again caused Emi to lose her temper. "Shut the hell up, leave me alone, and fuck your freaking butt-buddy there beside you if you need something to do…!" She finished her tirade by slamming the door shut and locking herself inside.

Deidara shrugged and looked at Sasori. "What? Was it something I said?"

A sigh came from the puppet master. "You certainly do have a way with the ladies brat." He began to make his way back to his room. "And now that that's settled, I'm going back to rest. And yes, you are still in charge of watching her. And before you say anything, it's because I said so. Deal with it."

He entered the bedroom and closed the door behind him, leaving an irate Deidara in the living room who proceeded to let out a yell of frustration and kick over the chair he was sitting in.

* * *

'_As much as I hate to admit it, those Akatsuki clowns were right about one thing…'_ Emi said to herself as she began to clean her open wounds and look over her body in the bathroom mirror_. 'I'm in no condition at the moment to try and escape…I need to think of something…'_ A small gasp came from the neko as a thought came to her. _'Of course…! Why didn't I think of that before…!? Oh, I just hope I'm close enough for this to work…'_

Wincing a bit as she softly sat down on the toilet, Emi closed her eyes and began to mentally concentrate and focus as hard as she could. _'Come on…come on…'_

A few more moments later, a sigh came from her and she reopened her eyes. "No good…I must be too far away from them…Damn it, just my luck…" She turned her attention to the only window in the bathroom and shuddered once more as she saw the rain and a lightning flash. "It feels like forever since I left home…I wonder how the family's doing…Hopefully Mom and Dad are alright…I really miss them…"

Emi's eyes softened as she gingerly reached behind her head and untied the light blue bandana that was holding her hair in a ponytail, letting her hair fall down her shoulders. She brought the bandana back around and a soft and sad smile came to her face as she looked at the kanji for "destiny" that was imprinted on it. "I miss you guys too…I hope you both miss me as much as I miss you…Galaxy…Chip…"

She looked at up at the window one last time before sighing and going back to cleaning her wounds.

_**~End Of Chapter 10~**_

* * *

_**~Author's Note~**_

_**Wow! What a dark and intense nightmare that Emi had! Thankfully it was only a dream and didn't actually happen! And after so long she has finally awoken from her unconscious state, though it wasn't too joyous for either herself or Deidara and Sasori! But she is still recovering from her injuries and with the outbursts she has already had as a result of mostly Deidara's wisecracks, one has to wonder how long these combustible elements can last while waiting out a dangerous storm under the same roof!**_

_**But while having some time to herself, Emi has begun to reflect on her family and friends that she left behind! For what reason did she leave her home in the first place? And what was it that she was trying to do in the bathroom but was too far away to do? And who is the Galaxy and Chip she spoke of?**_

_**Find out next time! Until then my fellow readers and authors, later and happy reading!**_


End file.
